Lost at Sea
by julesmonster
Summary: Tony has been assigned to the USS Seahawk and is feeling adrift without the support of his friends, but a surprising friendship develops into something more. DiNozzo/McGee pairing. Slash.
1. Chapter 1

**Lost At Sea**

**By Julesmonster**

**Disclaimer:** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** As most of you know, I'm usually a Tibbs fan, but this story just seemed to come out of nowhere and blindsided me. So here is my first—and possibly only—McNozzo pairing. It's longer than my usual fare, so I have decided to break it up into chapters. The story is complete, so the updates won't be long in coming, but I will be limited to when I have access to a computer while I take a short vacation. Sorry.

**Chapter One**

Tony made his way from his office on the USS Seahawk to the cramped bunk he now called home. It had already been a month and there was no sign of getting off of the ship any time soon. Tony had resigned himself to being there indefinitely. Gibbs had been in touch through email—which was a small miracle since the older agent notoriously avoided anything to do with technology—and he got updates from Abby almost daily on the status of the rest of the team. Well, everyone but Ziva; no one had heard anything about her since she had been sent back to Israel. But Tony knew that Ducky and Palmer were getting along as usual. He knew that Gibbs was being driven nuts by his new team and spent way too much time in the basement with his boat and his bourbon. He knew that Abby was depressed and missed both he and Ziva, and was worried about Gibbs. He also knew that McGee, his Probie, was thriving down in the sub-basement with a team of geeks following his every command.

Tony reached his quarters and quickly changed into sweats and his running shoes before heading back out into the narrow corridors of the ship. He needed to run. While there was no way he could run seven miles through the streets of DC, he could at least spend some time on the treadmill. He spent all day sitting on his ass, pushing papers and investigating petty thefts. When he was finished, there wasn't much else to do on board besides work out or watch movies on his portable DVD player. It wasn't like any of the crew, enlisted or officer, were going to invite him to a poker game. He was the law on this ship, and nobody wanted to trust the law, not even those who were completely innocent.

Tony reached the aircraft carrier's gym and noticed that there was a pick-up game going on the basketball court. A part of him really wanted to go over and join in, but the last time he had tried that, more than half of the guys had suddenly realized that there was something that they needed to be doing some place else. Tony sighed and headed for the treadmill in the corner. He programmed his usual course—two miles of warm up on a slight incline, followed by two at a steadily increasing incline with the next three and a half miles on intermittent inclines and plateaus with the last half mile cooling down on a flat surface—before setting the speed and starting his work out.

One thing about running on a treadmill: it gave a man entirely too much time to think. And Tony thought a lot while he ran. He thought about Jenny's death and his part in it. He thought about Vance and the way he had split the team over their failure to protect her. He thought about Gibbs and the fear that his boss blamed him for her death as well, no matter how often he told Tony that he was trying to get him back. He thought about McGee in the sub-basement and Abby in her lab. He thought about Ducky and Palmer. He thought about where Ziva was and what she could be doing. Most of all, however, he thought about how all of this was his fault. If he hadn't gone along with Jenny's orders, if he had stayed at his post, none of this would have happened.

That was the story of his life. If he had done things differently maybe Jeanne wouldn't hate him so much now and he could be living the white-picket-fence-life with her, two kids, and a dog. If he had done things differently, maybe Paula and Kate would still be alive. If he had done things differently, maybe his mother wouldn't have been drunk when she drove home from that party and would still be alive. If he had done things differently, maybe his father would be proud of him.

Tony knew that hate was not the worst thing a person can feel towards you. Indifference and apathy were worse that hatred any day.

Shaking off those thoughts, Tony forced his mind to take a different route. When he was stationed on the USS Ronald Reagan, he'd thought that he would only be there for a few days until Gibbs could get things straightened out. And he had been kind of right. He'd only been on that carrier for a couple weeks. When the orders had come for his transfer, he had, for a brief moment, believed that he would be going home. Instead, his hopes had been dashed as he'd read the communiqué that stated that he'd been reassigned here. Either ship was akin to torture for him.

At home, he would have gone out to a bar or a club, gotten drunk and found some pretty little girl willing to help him work off his demons. Or a pretty little boy—not that he ever told anyone about those nights. Stuck on a Navy carrier in the middle of the ocean, that was not an option. DADT was a real deterrent on a ship where everyone knew your business.

Oh, there were girls onboard, plenty of them, but they wanted the attention of and NCIS agent about as much as the basketball players wanted to shoot hoops with him. He'd tried on the Ronald Reagan. He'd tried to chat up several of the more attractive women on board. Every time, they shot him down with a sneer. Tony might have been a little off his game since the mess with Jeanne, but he wasn't that far off. It had only been a few months between the time things had blown up—literally—and the time he'd been shipped off to be agent afloat, but it was long enough for him to realize that his game face had suffered. He struck out more often than not, but he had been successful at least once out of every four or five tries—way down from his old average of two out of every three saying yes. Not on the Reagan, however. On the Reagan, he had averaged a great big goose egg, zero for fourteen.

Once he was transferred, Tony hadn't even bothered to try. What was the point? Besides, if things went belly-up, as they always seemed to do, he would be stuck in very cramped quarters with the woman. A carrier may be huge for a ship, but it was very small when you were trying to avoid someone. Tony knew that both from cases they had worked and from observing some of the broken romances on both carriers. He didn't need that kind of hassle right now.

So, not only was Tony banished to the sea, he was destined for a life of celibacy. All in all, it was a pretty shitty life.

Tony finished his run and moved to the weight machines. If nothing else, he would be in great shape by the time he got off of this barge.

**DMDMDMDMDM**

An hour later, Tony made his way back to his quarters from the showers. His thoughts had continued to circulate over everything that had happened recently, and he had replayed Gibbs' most recent email through his mind several times. It was short and to the point. He'd said, "Don't do anything stupid. I'll get you back as soon as I can." That was it. There was no request for information, no questions to see how Tony was doing. Tony felt like there should have been more to the missive, but there just wasn't. He'd always thought of Gibbs like a substitute father, but ever since Gibbs had run off to Mexico he was reminding him more and more of his own father. As long as he was useful, Gibbs wanted him around, but when it came right down to it, Tony was expendable, nothing more to the man than a junior colleague. Tony thought that he would have given anything for a "Hang in there," or "You'll be fine." "I trust you," or "I miss you," was probably too much to hope for, but Tony had been hoping anyway.

He'd been Gibbs' Senior Field Agent for more than six years now. He'd even led the team while Gibbs was gone and had been offered his own team when Gibbs returned. Tony had stayed out of loyalty to Gibbs and the team, but now he wondered if that hadn't been another in a long line of mistakes. He could have avoided the whole mess with Jeanne if he'd taken the team in Rota, Spain. Sure it was a small town far away from the parts of Europe where Tony wanted to be, but he could have missed the fiasco with Jenny. And he certainly wouldn't be stuck out in the middle of the ocean without friend or colleague for company.

Tony turned on his laptop, hoping against hope that there would be something, anything, in his inbox. There was. Another email from Abby wasn't surprising. The email from Tim was. They hadn't communicated at all since he'd been shipped out. After everything with Jenny, lines had been drawn down the center of their team. Abby and Tim had blamed both him and Ziva, Ducky and Palmer had not. Tony wasn't sure on which side of that line Gibbs fell, but he knew for sure where Vance did. Abby had forgiven him, but a part of Tony resented the fact that she had blamed him to begin with. She should have trusted him. Yes, he and Ziva had left their post, but it was on direct orders from their employer. They couldn't have known what was going to happen. Tony might blame himself, but he resented the fact that Abby had blamed him too. If it weren't for the fact that he needed the lifeline of information she was sending, Tony thought he might have held a grudge and not returned any of her emails.

As for Tim McGee, Tony wasn't sure how he felt. Tim was his Probie, but Tony had also thought that they had become friends. Friends don't toss you away when you make a mistake. After everything fell apart, Tony had three days to get his gear together and make arrangements for his apartment and his life. In that time, Tim hadn't called once and the few times Tony had tried to approach him, McGee had clammed up and walked away.

In a lot of ways, Tim's disloyalty hurt worse than Abby's. Abby had always been more like a little sister to him, and siblings fought at times. He knew when it was all over, no matter who had been in the wrong, no matter what the circumstances, they would eventually work it all out.

He didn't have those same brotherly feelings towards Probie. In fact, his feelings for the young agent, Tony was beginning to realize, went much deeper. It was scary just how deep they went. After the Jeanne fiasco, Tim had been there for him as a friend. They had gotten closer and before this latest debacle they had even been known to spend several evenings a week hanging out together when they could.

Tony stared at the screen of his computer and toyed with just deleting the email unopened. He was hurt and angry enough that he could do it and not feel guilty in the slightest. But… But, like with Abby, his curiosity and need for a connection, any connection, to home outweighed his anger.

Tony clicked the tab that opened the email. It was short and to the point; nothing like he would have expected from the part time novelist.

_Tony,_

_I'm sorry. I forgot how much of life resides in the shades of gray. In my grief and arrogance I was back seeing black and white all over again. I should never have blamed you—I know you do enough of that yourself. You were under conflicting orders and followed the higher ranking individual. I probably would have done the same in your position._

_If you can forgive me, even just a little, I'd like a chance to talk. Since phone time onboard is both rare and public, maybe you could IM me. You know me, I'm always online._

_Hoping to hear from you soon._

_Tim_

Tony reread the email three times before sitting back against the wall behind his bunk. Well shit. That changed everything.

Tony pulled up his instant messaging program and signed in. Sure enough, Tim was already logged on. He probably was playing some game or chatting with another computer geek. Or possibly chatting with Abby. Tony hesitated. Messaging McGee was as good as saying that he forgave him. Did he?

Tony thought about everything that had happened between them. Not just since Jenny's death, but before that, before Jeanne. Over the last five years, he and his Probie had grown beyond colleagues. He had been sure they were friends. He had even believed for a while that they might become something more than friends, but Tony wasn't sure he could open his heart up like that after everything. Yes, he could forgive Tim, but it would take a long time for him to trust him again. Tony knew that McGee would have his six on the field. He knew that he could trust the man with his life. What he had lost was his ability to trust McGee with his feelings. In a way, the latter was more important than the former.

He was a guy who had grown up with no love, no affection, and no trust from the people who were supposed to be his family; the emotional baggage from that life was pretty heavy. Part of that baggage made opening up to people, trusting them, almost impossible. Once that trust was broken, it was even harder to piece it together again. Usually he didn't even bother to try. What good would it do to let McGee back into his life? He was an ocean away from the man it didn't look like he was going to be going home any time soon. It would be easy to make a break, move on like he had a hundred times before.

Tony began typing.

_Magnum1970: Hey Probie._

_ElfLord1687: Tony! I'm so glad you're here. You read my email?_

_Magnum1970: Well, I almost wasn't._

_ElfLord1687: Oh. Why?_

Tony paused with his fingers over the laptop keys. How to answer that. He knew what Probie was asking, but he could pretend to misunderstand. He could redirect and divert. Or he could be honest.

_Magnum1970: Because I may have forgiven you, but I'm not sure if I can still trust you._

There was another long pause and Tony knew that Tim was probably trying to work through that information.

_ElfLord1687: I am so sorry. I'm not sure what else I can say._

_Magnum1970: There's nothing else to say, Probie. Trust is a fragile thing. Sometimes it gets broken and you can't piece it back together again._

_Elflord1687: Don't say that! I can't…_

_ElfLord1687: I can't imagine not having you in my life._

_Magnum1970: I can't either. That's why I'm here. _

_ElfLord1687: I'm glad you are. Do you think we can get past this? Go back to how things were before? I miss our movie nights with you telling me every minute detail about the movie, its stars and the circumstances of its production. _

_Magnum1970: I think we could probably still do that, except for the fact that I'm stuck out in the middle of the ocean. Things will change though. It's unavoidable._

_ElfLord1687: I know that things change. I just don't want that to change._

_Magnum1970: It will take time to get back even a semblance of what we had before. And then only if I can get off this damned ship._

_ElfLord1687: We've got time to work on things. And Gibbs is working on getting you back. I've seen multiple requisitions go through the system to reassemble our team._

_Magnum1970: Lol Probie! Are you hacking NCIS personnel files again? Tell me. Did you happen across Gibbs' birthday? I've always wanted to know when the man was born._

_ElfLord1687: I admit to nothing. And if I _**did**_ happen to come across any personal information about Gibbs, do you think I would be reckless enough to go bandying that information about? I do not have a death wish!_

_Magnum1970: You are such a worrywart! Well, at least give me a decade?_

_ElfLord1687: Lol! You are so predictable. I didn't look at Gibbs' files. Or yours, because I know that's your next question. In fact I've pretty much stuck to keeping an eye out for requisition forms and transfer papers. Abby insisted. She wants to know as soon as it's approved for you and Ziva to come back._

_Magnum1970: How are you doing down in Cyber Crimes?_

_ElfLord1687: It has its moments. They call me Boss. But the truth is I miss being out in the field. I miss you and Gibbs and Ziva. I have lunch with Abby all the time, but I don't get up to see Ducky or Palmer very often. I know what we do is important, but I feel like I'm wasting away down here. I'm almost as pale as Abby these days. What about you?"_

_Magnum1970: Well, I have a nice healthy tan. There's a deck mid-ship where I can catch a few rays if we're heading the right direction._

_ElfLord1687: Not what I meant, but it's nice to see some things don't change. How are you doing?_

Tony paused with his fingers hovering over the keyboard for a long minute. He had just gotten through telling himself and Tim that he couldn't trust the man anymore. But he was considering telling him the truth, or at least some of the truth. It was so much easier to say things when you weren't face to face with a person. And the fact was, no matter how messed up things had gotten, Tim wasn't going to tell anyone what he said. He knew that.

_Magnum1970: I hate it here._

It wasn't everything but it was a start.

_ElfLord1687: Not surprising. Most servicemen and women hate us. Even if we're here to protect them._

_Magnum1970: Don't forget that we also investigate them. They certainly don't forget it._

_ElfLord1687: Any hot dates?_

_Magnum1970: What do you think?_

_ElfLord1687: Never mind, it was a dumb question._

Tony wasn't sure what that meant, but he assumed that Tim believed that he was making his way through the entire female population onboard. He snorted. There were some pretty women on the carrier. There were some pretty men too. But he wasn't going there with anyone, and he certainly wasn't admitting to months of celibacy to Tim.

_Magnum1970: I should probably go. I have to be on duty in a few hours. More cases of petty theft to solve._

_ElfLord1687: Can we chat again?_

_Magnum1970: Yeah. You're always on, so I'll find you next time I can get a few minutes away._

_ElfLord1687: Thanks Tony._

They both knew he meant for more than the chat.

_Magnum1970: You're welcome Tim. I'll be in touch._

Tony signed off and shut down his laptop. It was a better night than he'd had in quite a while. Sure he hadn't gotten to watch The Poseidon Adventure like he'd been planning, but talking to Tim was better any day. And he felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He and Tim were going to be fine. It would take time, but he knew that it was true. And he knew that trusting Tim was worth the risk.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

_Three Months Later_

Tony sighed with relief when the word came down from Vance that he wasn't going back to the Seahawk. Now, after they had solved the Evans case, when things should be going back to normal, he found that he was homeless. He had arranged for an old frat brother to sublease his apartment, but the man had run the place down, had late night parties where the guests trashed the apartment and the landlord had finally evicted him. Of course, Mike had been too cowardly to tell him all of that, and now Tony was homeless. All of his things were in storage and he had no place to even spend the night.

Tony considered going to Gibbs' but, despite finally being home, Tony still wasn't sure where he stood with the man. Gibbs had written a total of three emails during the time he'd been at sea. Each of them had been as terse as the first. Then, when Tony was finally returned to the team, there had been no words of welcome—not even in Gibbs-speak. Ziva got a warmer welcome, at least according to Abby. Not that Abby had said it in a way that was intended to hurt Tony, but it had. She'd just been catching him up on everything that had happened since the last time they had emailed. But the fact that Ziva had gotten a hug and a welcome back while he had barely gotten a nod of acknowledgement was like a knife to the gut.

So Gibbs was out. As was Abby. He loved her, but he had no intention of ending up in a coffin before he was dead. Ziva was out. Tony's relationship with the Mossad officer had been tenuous at times and their time apart had certainly made things even more awkward. He knew that some people at NCIS had a pool going for when they finally slept together, but Tony knew that would never happen. And not because she would turn him down, as most people would assume. It was because after four years of working together, he still could not trust her. It was one thing to take a stranger to bed. There was no need for trust when you know the relationship will last a week, tops. When you're talking about a colleague, there's a whole new set of rules. You don't mess with a coworker unless you are really sure about where the relationship is heading. And he doubted he would ever trust Ziva enough for that type of connection.

The only one left was Tim. And, truth be told, Tim would be his first choice even if the others weren't all impossible. But the fact that he wanted to stay with Tim made calling him to ask even harder.

In the months since that first online chat, the two had grown even closer than before. It had taken time, but it was easier to share yourself with someone when they were hundreds of miles away. And Tony had shared more with Tim than he had ever shared with another human being in his life. Tim now knew more about him than even Gibbs. And he had learned everything he could about Tim as well. What had started as friends and coworkers was now a deep and abiding closeness. Unfortunately, months without companionship had Tony's heart reading more into the whole thing than he should. Every emoticon wink made his stomach flutter. And actually seeing Tim had his heart hammering away at his ribcage. He was a mess.

McGee had given him no reason to believe that there was more than friendship on offer during their almost nightly chat sessions. He had never indicated that he was interested in men during their heart-to-hearts. Tim had only ever talked about women the entire time Tony had known him. Then again, Tony had never talked to Tim about the men in his life either. It had never seemed worth the trouble before since none of them lasted longer than the women in his life. But now, he almost wished he had because it would make things so much easier with Tim if the other man knew. Who knows, Tim might have his own stories to share of forbidden love.

Shaking off his nervousness, Tony flipped open his cell and rang Tim's number.

**DMDMDMDMDM**

Tim had moved to a new place after selling his latest novel. Gone was the cramped and overcrowded living room that served as more of an office than a living space. Tony had never been to the new place, but he knew that part of the reason Tim had moved was because there just hadn't been enough room for Jethro. Tony had to smile as he recalled how rocky the beginning of that relationship had been. Jethro had actually attacked Tim and the junior agent had been scared of the dog after that. Unfortunately, Abby refused to let the dog be sent to the pound and since she couldn't care for him herself, he had eventually agreed to take him. Now, Tony knew that Tim doted on the dog.

Tony walked up the steps to Tim's new place. It was a rather nice townhouse in a good area of Silver Springs. A little farther from the bright lights and big city that Tony preferred, but it really was pretty great. The small suburban town had a central shopping district which actually had branches of some of his favorite shops and a lot of great restaurants. There was even a small community theater. There was a park just down the road where Tony knew that Tim took Jethro for a run everyday.

Tony rang the doorbell and heard Jethro begin barking right away. A few minutes later, Tim opened the door to admit Tony. At first, Tony couldn't quite move. Tim was standing there in nothing but a pair of running shorts. Sweat made his light hair several shades darker and his body glistened with perspiration. He had obviously just finished running. Only Jethro's enthusiastic greeting finally enabled Tony to pull his eyes away from the vision before him. Oh, Timmy had been working out while Tony was gone. A lot.

"Jethro!" Tim shouted over the excited barking. "Let him in the door, please! Jethro! Go to your room!"

Upon that order, the excited dog hung his head and moped back into the townhouse and up the stairs with his tail between his legs. Tony chuckled and carried his gear inside.

"Thanks for letting me stay, Tim," Tony said. "I still can't believe Mike got me kicked out of my apartment."

"You should know better than to trust an over-grown frat boy to live like a monk," Tim said with a smirk. "Anyway, it's no problem. This place has three bedrooms and Jethro only takes up one."

"He has his own room?" Tony asked with humor. "It's like he's your kid or something. Did you buy him a Wii?"

"No," Tim muttered. "But he does have a big bed and that's where I keep all of his toys and stuff."

"Go shower, McStinky," Tony said. "I'll find my way to the room that isn't occupied by Jethro."

Tim seemed to just realize that he was almost naked and flushed. "Right, sorry. I just got back from taking Jethro for his run. I ordered Pizza for dinner. It should be here soon."

"I'll meet the delivery boy when he comes," Tony assured. "Go clean up."

Tim headed for the stairs but stopped on the bottom step to look back at Tony. "Maybe we could watch one of your movies tonight?"

Tony grinned. "I'll dig out something I think you'll like."

Tony watched Tim traverse the rest of the stairs and stood there lost in thought for several minutes. He had been attracted to Tim for a long time, but seeing just how much he had changed, seeing the planes and angles of his torso, seeing the muscles flex in his thighs, seeing the way his baby fat had given way to a leaner and sleeker body made him want to ignore everything he had just said to Tim and go up the stairs to interrupt his shower.

Instead, with a sigh, Tony carried his gear up to the guest room and set his bags on the floor. He rummaged around in one of them for the large CD wallet he had stowed there before setting sail. He kicked off his shoes and carried the wallet down the steps to the living room and set it down beside the television. Tony decided to take the opportunity to have a look around. He'd seen most of the upstairs while looking for the guest room. Three bedrooms, a guest bath, and he assumed Tim had another bathroom in his room, since he could hear the water running.

On the main floor, the entryway opened up to the living room. Tim had splurged and bought a great modern leather couch and matching armchairs in black and chrome. There was a gas fireplace and a huge flat-screen plasma television above the mantle. Tony wondered where McGee had hidden the electronics. Instead of searching for them, he wandered along through the empty dining room to the kitchen which he could see through the open doorway. It was quite large for a townhouse. He went around through the other doorway and back to the entry hall. Behind the stairs, there was another hall. Tony opened the first door and found that it led to the basement stairs. Next was the laundry room which led to the two car garage. Beyond that was the guest bathroom.

In the back corner of the townhouse, Tony found the real reason Tim had bought the place. It was the study. The room was huge with three walls lined with bookshelves, and the fourth with a long computer desk that held no less than three PCs and a laptop. Tony walked around the desk in the center of the room that held the old fashioned type writer that Tim wrote with and eyed some of the books. There was _Deep Six_. He also had copies of the four books that had come before _Deep Six _and the one that had followed. Tony noticed a completed manuscript for the seventh book in the series resting beside the others and reached out a hand to run his fingers over the cover.

"You can read it if you want," Tim said from the doorway.

Tony dropped his hand and looked over his shoulder. "Thanks. I had the time while I was away, so I went to the ship's library and finally read the entire series."

Tim snorted. "Did you just skim for the parts about Agent Tommy again?"

Tony laughed. "No. I'll have you know I read them all cover to cover."

"You really must have been bored, then," Tim declared.

Tony laughed hard at that, but his laughter quickly dissolved into a coughing fit. For a few moments, the only sound was the wracking coughs and gasps for breath coming from Tony. Tim looked worriedly on, but said nothing until the coughing died out and Tony took a shuddering breath.

"You okay?" Tim finally asked.

"Yeah," Tony sighed. "I caught a cold a while back. It takes my lungs longer to recover from these things since the plague. I went to the ship's infirmary and the doctor said I'd be fine."

Tim looked dubious, but just then they both heard Jethro's paws clicking on the hardwood as he rushed down the stairs. Tim sighed. "Come on. I think the pizza guy is here."

Sure enough the door bell rang seconds later. Tony paid for the pizza while Tim got drinks and plates for them and carried them into the living room on a tray. He had four beers, figuring they'd each want at least that much and he didn't want to have to get up and down a bunch of times. Tony set the pizzas on the coffee table and began flipping through the DVD wallet. When he pulled out a DVD, he turned to Tim.

"So, where have you hidden all of your super technology?" Tony smirked. "I didn't want to pry too much when I was looking around."

Tim laughed. "More likely, you figured you had limited time to do it before I came back down," Tim said.

"That too," Tony shrugged.

Tim got up and took the disk. He walked over to a built in cabinet below the window seat and opened the front. Inside, Tony saw not only the DVD player, but the cable box, an audio mixer and a digital music player. There were no speakers for the music, so Tony figured Tim must have the room wired for sound. Sure enough, when he looked closer at the walls and ceiling, he found the surround sound speakers positioned to give the maximum quality of sound. They were blended into the paintwork on the walls, so that you had to look for them to find them.

"I've got a remote eye connected to the side of the TV," Tim told him. "So I don't have actually point the remote at the devices, just at the eye. And I've programmed a universal digital remote so that I don't have to have a dozen remotes lying around."

"Pretty nifty," Tony agreed. "Well, get on with it. Turn on the movie!"

Tim grinned and grabbed the remote off of the mantle and joined Tony on the other side of the sofa. While the credits played, they loaded their plates and then sat back to watch the movie. Tony had chosen _Arsenic and Old Lace_. It was an old black and white movie starring Cary Grant.

"Now that's a man that can smooth talk his way out of anything," Tony said admiringly. "He still was the hottest thing in Hollywood well into his sixties. He's what I think of when I think of a movie star. He was the quintessential leading man. The ladies all loved him and the men all wanted to be him. Even in his screwball comedies, he was smooth."

"Screwball comedies?" Tim asked, still with one eye on the video. Cary Grant's two aunts were just telling him about how they poison the visitors that they take in.

Tony picked up the remote to pause the movie. He put on his best Professor DiNardo voice as he said, "Similar to a farce, a screwball comedy is unconventional, with an unpredictable plotline, and startling actions and behaviors from the characters. It is one of the first film genres where the leading female was accepted to be autonomous, like Katherine Hepburn in _The Philadelphia Story_ or Rosalind Russell in _His Girl Friday_. Most critics agree that the genre began with Claudette Colbert and Clark Gale's _It Happened One Night_, but the roots of the screwball comedy go all the way back to Shakespeare's comedies like _Much Ado About Nothing_ and _Midsummer Night's Dream_. Some critics and film historians date the end of the screwball comedy era to the mid forties, with Arsenic and Old Lace being one of the last. Though it was filmed in 1941, it was not released until 1944 because the Broadway play was still running until then. Oh, and just in case you were wondering, despite the fact that color was quite common in the 1940's, Frank Capra chose to stay with black and white until 1959 for artistic reasons, only changing to color when he directed Frank Sinatra in _A Hole in the Head_. "

Tim was laughing by the time Tony had completed his monologue. "You know entirely too much about movies."

Tony shrugged. "I didn't always. When Kate first came to NCIS I hadn't watched any movies older than I was. And even then my choices were mostly limited to action and adventure films. Then one day, Gibbs was talking about Alan Ladd—I don't remember why—and I had no idea who he was talking about. He mentioned that he starred in the movie _Shane_, so I went out and rented it. The rest is movie buff history."

Tim's eyes widened. "Does Gibbs know he's the cause of your movie obsession?"

"Probably not," Tony huffed. "Probably never paid attention enough to notice that I actually learned something."

"Tony, maybe…"

"I don't want to talk about Gibbs," Tony huffed. "Let's just watch the movie."

Tim sighed and hit play.

**DMDMDMDMDM**

Tony tried to go back to sleep, but found it was quite useless. His cough had woken him up and he knew from past experience that lying in bed would be useless. Besides, he'd gotten used to the lull of the carrier being rocked by the waves of the ocean. The silence and stillness in Tim's house was almost stifling. Tony rolled over and looked at his travel alarm clock and groaned. It was three in the morning and he hadn't slept at all.

Sitting up, Tony pulled on his sweat pants, t-shirt and running shoes and headed for the door. At least he could do something productive if he wasn't going to sleep. He was sufficiently warmed up by the time he reached the park, Jethro on a leash by his side. The poor mutt was going to get more than his fair share of exercise if this kept up.

Instead of staying in the park, Tony ran once around the two mile path before hitting the open road. He figured it was the best way to get acquainted with his temporary home. After a mile, the residential neighborhood gave way to the more urban feel of the small city. Though he had to stop occasionally because a coughing fit would hit him, Tony was glad he'd come out to run. It helped him focus and clear his mind, something he desperately needed since returning home.

Tony ran past the police station, the town hall, and many of the stores he had noticed on his way to Tim's place last night. There were other parks and other smaller shopping areas he found as he circled around and began the trek back towards Tim's. Just when he thought his lungs were going to explode, about a mile from Tim's house he spotted a small bakery with the lights on. Tony grinned, glad he had thought to tuck his wallet into the pocket of his sweats.

An hour later, Tim found Tony, fully dressed, sitting at the breakfast bar with a cup of coffee and the newspaper. There were fresh pastries on a plate on the counter and Tim helped himself.

"How long have you been up?" Tim asked even as he bit down on the cheese Danish that he recognized from his favorite bakery.

"A couple hours," Tony admitted. "Couldn't sleep. So I went running at about three. Found this bakery on my way back and charmed the nice lady who owns it into selling me some pastries even though she doesn't open until five. Good stuff they have there."

Tim shook his head, still a little sleepy. "I'm just going to take Jethro out and then get ready."

"He's been out," Tony said. "He went with me. I can take him again if you want."

"That would be good," Tim agreed with a nod. "I'll just go hit the shower then."

Tony had to smile as he watched Tim trudge back up the stairs. He was like a sleepy toddler who was woken from his nap a little too soon. Tony went back to the crossword puzzle he was working on. When it was complete, he called for Jethro and grabbed the dog's leash. It was a short walk, since Jethro was tired from two runs in less than ten hours. When he got back, Tim was back in the kitchen, eating another pastry and drinking coffee.

"Thanks for taking him," Tim said. "I don't mind at night, but it's a real pain in the mornings."

"No problem," Tony said as he grabbed another Danish for himself. "I was up, and ready; though I can't promise I'll be quite so willing every morning."

Tim nodded. "How are you so awake if you didn't get enough sleep last night? Are you going to be okay going in to work?"

"I'll be fine," Tony said with a roll of his eyes. "It won't be the first time I've had less than a full night's rest on the job. And I'm awake because I've been giving Gibbs a run for his money on coffee this morning." Tony held out his hand and Tim could see that it was a bit shaky from caffeine overload.

"Let's just hope we don't catch a case," Tim frowned. "I'm not sure you could shoot straight if you had to right now."

Tony shrugged. "Adrenaline would help clear my system and steady my hands, but I don't want to try it out if I don't have to."

"You want to take my car or yours?" Tim asked. "Or would you rather we went in separately."

Tony shrugged. "We'll work for the same length of time and I don't have any plans in DC tonight, so sharing makes sense. As for whose car, I vote for the Porsche."

Tim laughed as he grabbed his pack by the door and his keys. "I would have thought you'd be itching to drive again, since you spent so long without a car in sight."

Tony shrugged. "If I still had the Mustang, maybe. But no car I've driven since has held the same appeal."

"Kind of like women since…." Tim flushed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up. My brain doesn't function until I've been awake for a while."

"It's fine," Tony said quietly as he climbed into the passenger side of the Porsche. And it was fine. Thoughts of Jeanne no longer hurt the way they had in the months following their catastrophic breakup. And he'd had months on the Seahawk to put the latest disaster behind him. "I think I'm over all that finally. I've put it all behind me. Believe it or not, that last meeting with her made me realize a few things."

Tim started the car and pulled his seatbelt over his shoulder. "Like what?"

"Like the fact that I was more in love with the idea of happily ever after than I was with Jeanne," Tony said. "I'd always believed that I would never be able to have something like that, but my time with her showed me that I was capable of sustaining a relationship, that I could be loving and attentive. That I could be a good partner to someone. But when she asked me to choose between her and NCIS, I knew it wasn't her that I loved. I think if the right person asked me to leave, I would. But she wasn't that person."

Tim nodded but kept his eyes on the road before him as he merged onto the highway heading back towards DC. "I loved Abby once upon a time. I thought we could do the happily ever after thing. But that's not what she wanted. So I know about it not being the right person. I loved Abby and still do, but she'll never be the one I come home to every night."

Tony grinned. "Well, right now, I'm the one you'll be coming home to every night."

Tim chuckled. "Yes, you are."


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

The day seemed to drag. Tony spent time catching up with Abby, Ducky and Palmer when he wasn't sifting through cold cases. Every time he walked away from his desk, however, Gibbs was on him demanding to know where he was going and why. Every time Tony cracked a joke, Gibbs gave him his most repressive stare. There had been a time, not so long ago, when Tony would have quelled under that gaze, but not any more. He'd never been afraid of Gibbs, but he had wanted to please the man. He'd thought of Gibbs as a mentor or father figure, but the respect he'd felt for the lead agent had been bruised and battered by years of neglect.

So when Gibbs asked where he was going, Tony would look him in the eye and tell him. Without waiting for Gibbs to tell him to get back to work, Tony would walk away.

From their desks, Tim and Ziva both observed this repeatedly through the day, sharing worried looks and taking the brunt of Gibbs' ire. When a call came in the early afternoon about a missing marine, the two weren't sure whether to be relieved or scared of how quickly things could go from bad to worse.

The team drove to the Marine Barracks only a couple miles away. Gibbs led the way to the Commandant's office without speaking to any of them. A brief interview revealed that Major Jack Weston served as the Commandant's aide de camp and had gone to get lunch for the two of them. That had been about three hours before. He was going to the sub shop on 8th street and would have taken the path along the lawn at the center of the Barracks.

Tim and Tony were assigned to follow Weston's usual route and see if they could find out what had happened, taking a couple recent photos with them. Gibbs and Ziva would begin looking for witnesses and interviewing the man's coworkers. Once they were out of the Commandant's office, Tim turned to Tony.

"Why have you been baiting Gibbs?" Tim asked. "You know how he is."

"And we're just supposed to take it?" Tony asked. "If anyone other than Leroy Jethro Gibbs treated his team the way he does, they would be out of a job. The only reason he isn't is because we put up with it. Well, I refuse to do it anymore. I'm not a kid who needs permission to hit the head. As long as my job is being done, he has no right to demand my whereabouts."

Tim shook his head as his eyes followed the Marine Corps Band practicing parade drills on the lawns. "Look Tony, I know that something's going on with you where Gibbs is concerned, but baiting him isn't going to make him change. It's just going to piss him off."

"Good," Tony said. "Because I'm already pissed off. Let's just figure out what happened to Major Weston."

They followed the trail to the shop and found nothing out of the ordinary. They talked to the employees at the shop, who remembered seeing the major, but didn't know what had happened to him. Tim and Tony split up on 8th street to canvas the neighborhood for any witnesses.

When Gibbs showed up an hour later, he found Tim first. Tim had finished his side of the block and had been on his way back to find Tony.

"Anything?" Gibbs asked.

"Major Weston made it to the shop and made his purchase, but the staff didn't see anything," Tim said. "We've been canvassing the neighborhood. I've got nothing from my side of the street, but Tony hasn't finished yet."

Gibbs nodded and stalked towards the other side of the street. Tim hurried to keep up. They found Tony smiling and talking to a pretty young woman who was obviously flirting with him. Tim heard the low growl coming from Gibbs and cringed. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"DiNozzo! Get your ass over here!"

Tony looked over at them and frowned before turning a smile back to the girl. He said something else and the girl laughed. She leaned in and whispered something in Tony's ear and Tim felt his gut clench for just a moment. Confused at his visceral response to something he had witness a thousand times over the years, Tim decided to set those thoughts aside and get back to them later. Finally, the girl gave a flirty wave and walked away. Tony turned towards them and sauntered in their direction, clearly in no hurry to comply with Gibbs' order.

"DiNozzo, just because you spent months at sea doesn't give you the right to hit on the first girl you see like a sailor on leave," Gibbs said through gritted teeth. "We don't have time for you to get a date."

Tony grinned back at Gibbs' remark, but Tim could feel the ice in the older agent's eyes on Gibbs. "Then I guess you don't want to know that Tina just so happened to see our Major getting into a late model black Town and Country with Maryland plates. Or that he didn't look happy, but he went willingly. I'm sure you wouldn't want to know that she saw the first three letters of the plate or that she remembered them because they were her ex-boyfriend's initials."

Gibbs stared at Tony and Tony stared right back. Tim felt like a spectator at a tennis match as he swung his gaze from one to the other. Shockingly, it was Gibbs who looked away first. "Well, what are you waiting for? Call it in to Abby and get a BOLO!"

"On it," Tony said with a smirk, and then added as an afterthought, "Boss."

**DMDMDMDMDM**

Abby was quick to tell them that the minivan belonged to Weston's neighbor, James Kirsch and she had tried tracking the Major's cell phone, but the GPS had been turned off. He had made two calls, however, since his disappearance. The first was to his wife and the second to an office at the Barracks. Gibbs and Ziva went to find out who was on the other end of the call at the Barracks while Tim and Tony went to the Major's home to speak with his wife.

On the drive over, Tim attempted to bring up the tension between Tony and Gibbs again. "Tony…"

Tony sighed. "I don't really want to talk about it, Tim." He paused as another coughing fit took over and Tim looked at him worriedly again.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Tim asked.

Tony nodded. "Yeah. But just in case, I've made an appointment with Brad at Bethesda for Monday. He still likes to keep up with how my lungs are functioning. Speaking of medical stuff… I wanted to let you know that I changed my medical proxy while I was at sea. I took Gibbs off and made you my primary. I hope that's okay."

Tim was stunned. Three months ago, Tony had said he didn't trust him, but now he had made him his medical proxy. Obviously things had changed. "Yeah, that's fine. I… Thank you."

"For what?" Tony asked as he glanced Tim's way before turning his attention back to the road.

"You chose me," Tim shrugged. "It means a lot to me. It means you trust me again. I don't like what's going on with you and Gibbs, but I'm glad you feel like you can turn to me if you need to."

Tony reached out his hand and grabbed Tim's without thinking. He squeezed and then returned his hand to the steering wheel. "Our friendship means a lot to me, Tim."

"Yeah," Tim agreed, staring at his hand. He could still feel the warmth of Tony's fingers wrapped around his own. "To me too."

**DMDMDMDMDM**

They arrived at the Major's home and found nobody home, but the front door was wide open and there were signs of a struggle. After they had cleared the house, McGee got on the phone to Gibbs and told them what they had found while Tony went to the car and grabbed the camera he kept in his pack along with gloves and evidence bags. They could begin processing the scene rather than waiting for the rest of the team to arrive.

"You take the photos Tim and I'll start sketching," Tony said. "No need to wait to get started. If we finish that, we can start bagging and tagging. Make sure you get pictures of the layout as well as the details."

"On it," Tim said as he accepted the camera. He was rather surprised that Tony kept this sort of equipment in his gear. Tim never would have thought to bring a camera since the truck had everything they needed. But Tony was right. Gibbs and Ziva would be at least half an hour, even with Gibbs driving. If it had just been him, he would have been sitting on his ass waiting. He wondered if Gibbs carried this sort of thing around as well, but was afraid to ask.

They worked in silence for a while. Tim took pictures of the entryway where the struggle obviously took place. There was blood on the floor and a bloody palm print on the door frame. Tony pointed out torn fabric caught on a nail that had been loosened when the banister to the stairway had been ripped out. There was more blood on the newel post. Tim was getting a picture in his mind and he wasn't sure he liked what he was seeing. Someone had come in here and tried to snatch Mrs. Weston. She fought them and they carried her out of the house as she continued to struggle, despite being injured.

Tony had sketched the entryway and had moved on to the rest of the living room, which opened into that hall. There was more evidence of a struggle here. A broken vase lay shattered on the floor and Tony hoped that the woman had used it on her abductor. He noticed that there was blood on some of the shards and pointed them out to Tim as the younger agent joined him in that room. "We'll get Abby to run the blood on that vase. I have a feeling that our Marine wife tried to defend herself, which means that the blood on those shards belong to our abductor."

Twenty minutes later, they had already begun to bag and tag the evidence when Gibbs and Ziva showed up in the truck. Gibbs looked at what they were doing and nodded before taking a look around the house. He sent Ziva to canvas the neighborhood, to see if anyone had witnessed anything. And then he tried to figure out just how long ago the Major's wife had gone missing.

"Any indication as to the time of Mrs. Weston's abduction?" Gibbs asked.

Tony didn't look up from where he was picking up the shards of glass as he answered, "The TV was on, an on demand movie paused. She was obviously interrupted. The tea beside the chair was cold when we arrived, but that only takes a few minutes to reach room temperature."

"I know that DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked. "Tell me something I don't know."

Tony paused and closed his eyes as he counted to ten. When he thought he could respond without too much malice, he said, "She wasn't alone when she was taken. She's pregnant."

Gibbs looked startled as did Tim. "How do you know?"

"Neonatal vitamins in the bathroom cabinet, herbal tea, books on pregnancy by the bed and by her chair in the living room, and brand new baby clothes in a gift box in the guest room," Tony said.

Gibbs nodded. "We need to hurry up and figure this out. We need to know if the Major was in on this or if he went with the neighbor because he knew she was taken. Have you gone to Kirsch's house yet?"

"No warrant yet," Tim said as he finished collecting evidence from the entry. "Legal will call once it comes through and I'll get someone to bring it over."

They worked silently until the entire house had been processed. By the time they were finished, the courier had arrived and they had exchanged the bagged evidence for the search warrant for Kirsch's house and set out. They parked the truck around the corner and only Gibbs and Ziva went to the front door, with Tony and Tim taking the back as a precaution. There was no answer to their knocks, so Gibbs went in. Tony and Tim entered through the kitchen and soon they had cleared the entire house.

"No sign of either of the Westons, or Kirsch," Ziva said.

"Search the place. Find something that will tell us where he was going," Gibbs ordered and went outside to make phone calls.

Two hours later, they had gathered as much evidence as they could, including Kirsch's computer and several files from his home office. They headed back to NCIS while Gibbs and Ziva went back to interview Kirsch's employer and his coworkers.

On the drive back, Tony had another coughing fit and this time it was Tim who grabbed his hand. "Are you sure this can wait until Monday? These fits seem to be getting worse."

"I'll be fine, Probie," Tony said with a pained smile. The truth was, he felt like shit. Every time he coughed, his chest seemed to tighten up even more. He was glad that Tim had held his hand, though. He'd been aware that the younger man had been surprised by his actions earlier, but it was reassuring to know that he wasn't completely freaked out by it. And perhaps he wasn't as averse to what Tony's mind had been playing in his dreams every night as he had thought he would be.

"What is this?" Tim asked a while later when they still hadn't released each other's hand.

"What is what?" Tony asked.

"This, us," Tim said. "Holding hands. The medical proxy thing. The heart-to-hearts online while you were gone. All of it. What does it all mean?"

"What do you think it means?" Tony asked, but he didn't wait for Tim to answer. "If I was a woman, would you know what it meant?"

Tim flushed and looked down at their hands. "Yes."

"So?"

Tim looked up at Tony with confusion. "So? So, you're the straightest man I know. And I've never… So, how can this mean that?"

"First of all, I'm not the straightest man you know," Tony said. "That would probably be Gibbs. There have been men before."

"Oh."

"Second," Tony continued, "just because you haven't done it before doesn't mean you're totally averse to it. Are you?"

"Not totally," Tim admitted quietly. He looked at Tony again and his voice was more confident this time. "So, where do we go from here?"

Tony grinned his most rakish grin. "How about a date? I saw this restaurant while I was out jogging this morning that I think would be really nice. Angelina's. We could go there, have dinner, maybe see the play that the community theater has running. What do you say?"

Tim grinned. "Okay. I think that sounds okay."

"Just okay?" Tony teased. "This is a DiNozzo date! Men and women alike would give their right arm to spend just such an evening in my presence!"

Tim laughed. "You are so full of it. How about Saturday. We're off rotation, as long as we solve this case before then."

"It's Thursday," Tony said seriously. "If we don't find them in the next few hours, chances are we won't find them alive."

"We'll get them," Tim said.

"I think I have a way to figure out what time Mrs. Weston was taken," Tony said. "She ordered that video from her cable company. They'll have a record of what time that was. And she was only a few minutes into the movie, so we should have a pretty clear timeline."

"You don't think that the Major was in on it," Tim said. "You think he went because they had her."

"I do," Tony said. "Spouses kill, they don't kidnap. What do they have to gain from it?"

"What do the kidnappers have to gain?" Tim asked. "I'm going to start looking into both of their backgrounds. Maybe one of them comes from money and this is for a ransom."

"I was thinking more along the lines of revenge," Tony said. "If it was for money, they wouldn't need both of them. I think we should concentrate on his background. See if it intersects with Kirsch more than just living close to each other. I have a feeling that's where we're going to get our answers."


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Tony got the cable company to give them the time that the movie was ordered and then went to work searching through Kirsch's background while Tim worked on Weston. It was after eleven before Gibbs and Ziva showed back at the bullpen. They didn't have much to go on, but they did find out that Kirsch had been bragging about some bet he had made with his neighbor a while back. And then, more recently, he had become taciturn and withdrawn. No one seemed really surprised that he hadn't shown up to work that day. Apparently, he wasn't the most reliable worker they had.

Tim presented Gibbs with the information they had tracked down while Tony stood in the back of the group surrounding the screen. He said nothing while Tim talked.

"Tony figured out how to get the time of the abduction," Tim said. "He called in to the cable company and they told us that Mrs. Weston ordered the film at 0817 but didn't begin playing it until 0831. They also know that she paused the movie at 0834, started it back up at 0836 and paused it for the final time at 0851."

"Major Weston checked in at the Barracks at 0700 and didn't leave until he took the lunch run at 1315," Ziva said.

"Which means our Major went with the neighbor because he knew that somebody had his wife," Gibbs said.

"Their home voicemail confirms that the call from Major Weston was in search of his wife," Tim said. "There was no indication that he was afraid of Kirsch. In fact, Kirsch said something in the background that sounded like 'I told you she wasn't there.'"

"You think that Kirsch is helping him?" Gibbs asked Tim, but his eyes were on Tony.

"Tony and I have been looking for anything in his background that might give him a reason to kidnap the Major, but we didn't find anything," Tim said. "It looks less and less like Kirsch is our bad guy."

"And who do the two of you think is our bad guy?" Gibbs asked, his eyes still locked on Tony.

"Lt. Michael Connors," Tony said, finally breaking his silence.

"He is the officer who runs the Barracks communications center," Ziva said. "We already spoke with him this afternoon. He was at work all day."

"You were checking his alibi for lunch time," Tony pointed out. "Did you check his whereabouts from 0830 to 0930?"

"No," Ziva said with a frown.

"What makes you think it's him?" Gibbs asked.

Tim spoke up. "Major Weston has written Connors up three times in the last two months. On top of that, Tony spoke to Amber again and she said that she has seen Weston with a man fitting Connors' description arguing on multiple occasions."

"Connors runs a gambling pool," Tony said. "Weston broke it up three times, hence the write ups. The losses he would have sustained from that would be significant."

"Where is Connors now?" Gibbs asked.

"I've been working on that," Tim said. "His phone's GPS is off, but I've got a trace on his home phone and his car's GPS. The car is still at the Barracks. The home phone hasn't been used, and neither has his cell. Tony's running a search on his financials, looking for any indication of someplace he might have taken the Major's wife."

"I assume we're still tracking both Weston and Kirsch as well?" Gibbs asked.

"No luck so far on either of them," Tim said. "Both of their phones are off now and Kirsch's vehicle doesn't have GPS."

Gibbs nodded and went to his desk. "David and DiNozzo, get a warrant and check out Connors' house. Tim, keep running those searches."

Tony grabbed his gear, gave Tim a look and headed to the elevator with Ziva. Ziva, who had watched the silent exchange, as well as all of the interactions between Tony and Gibbs all day, was puzzled.

"What was that?" she asked.

"What was what?" Tony said as he pushed the button for the garage level.

"That look," Ziva said.

"I'm not sure what you mean," Tony said. "It was just a look."

"No. It was more than just a look. You were communicating something to him without words," Ziva said.

Tony laughed. "Neither of us are telepathic, Ziva. We don't communicate without speaking."

"Yes you do," Ziva said. "Body language, gestures, and facial expressions communicate meaning almost as effectively as spoken words."

"Perhaps," Tony conceded.

"And you said something to Tim," Ziva said.

"If it was through body language, gestures or facial expressions, you should be able to figure it out," Tony taunted.

"Perhaps I shall," Ziva said quietly. They went to the motor pool car that Tony had been using with Tim all day and Tony got behind the wheel. The drive was silent for a time while Ziva tried to figure things out and Tony thought about how glad he was that Tim had been receptive of his advances.

"You and McGee are sleeping together," Ziva stated baldly. If Tony had been drinking anything, he would have done a spit-take. "And Gibbs does not approve because of rule 9. This is why there has been so much tension between the two of you."

"Rule 12," Tony corrected. "Rule 9 is never go anywhere without a knife. And Tim and I aren't sleeping together." _At least not yet_, Tony's mind supplied. "The stuff with Gibbs is completely independent of whatever you think you saw pass between me and Tim."

"You call him Tim," Ziva said. "You have not called him McGee or Probie or any of the other atrocious names you normally use since you returned."

Tony shrugged. "We stayed in touch. Things changed. But we aren't sleeping together."

"You are staying at his home, no?"

"In his guest room," Tony corrected. _Hopefully not for long_, Tony's mind piped up.

"There is definitely something going on between the two of you," Ziva said. Tony would have replied, but he was wracked by another coughing fit. This was the worst one yet. It lasted for more than five minutes and he actually had to pull the car to the side of the road and get out from behind the wheel to catch his breath. He knew that part of the reason it was so bad was because he had spent the entire time they had been talking to Gibbs trying to hold it back.

When the coughs finally subsided, Tony handed Ziva the car keys and got into the passenger seat. Ziva stared at him with a frown. "Are you ill?"

"Not ill," Tony wheezed out, his chest still felt like there was a belt strapped around it restricting his breathing. "Had a cold that won't go away. Going to see the doctor on Monday."

Ziva nodded and put the car into drive. She remained quiet for the next several miles.

"Did Gibbs contact you while you were gone?" Tony asked once he felt like every breath wasn't a battle.

Ziva nodded even as she swerved into the left lane to pass a car only to swerve back to the right to avoid another. "He sent me several emails."

"What did they say?" Tony asked. Ziva looked at him with a frown and he corrected himself. "I don't want to know what he said exactly, but… did he say anything… I don't know… personal?"

Ziva was still frowning but she said, "He asked me how I was doing. He said that the team missed me. He said he was working to get us back, and to hang in there."

Tony sniffed. "Figures."

"What?" Ziva asked but Tony just stared out the window. "This is the reason you and Gibbs have been going head to head? Because he did not ask after your wellbeing?"

"I could see if he was mad about Jenny," Tony explained. "But if he was, he'd be mad at both of us. He wasn't angry. Which means he just doesn't give a shit about me. He didn't even acknowledge the fact that I came back other than to nod and scowl at me. And don't say that I started this. I tried pretending it didn't matter, but he's been on my case all day and I just can't keep sitting back and taking his shit for the rest of my life. It isn't right and it isn't fair."

Tony's breath was stolen as he began to cough once again. This second bout wasn't as bad as the first, but the fact that it had come so close after the last had him somewhat worried.

"Gibbs cares about you," Ziva said uncertainly after the coughing had ended again. "I am sure he does. How could he not when you have been with him the longest?"

Tony shook his head. "I used to think that, but recent events seem to prove that theory wrong. Listen, I don't want to talk about it any more."

Ziva nodded and let the subject drop. They pulled up to Connors' apartment a few minutes later and caught the elevator to his floor. Half an hour later, Ziva was on the phone with Gibbs.

"He is not here, and it is apparent that he will not be returning any time soon," Ziva said. "His toiletries are missing, as are many of his clothes and his laptop computer."

Tony waited impatiently to hear more of Ziva's side of the conversation, wondering if Tim was doing the same from the other end.

"We did not find any evidence of that nature," Ziva said. "But Tony did find a note pad that had the impressions of what Connors had written down before tearing the page off. There was an address."

Ziva passed on the information and they all waited while Tony was sure that Tim was looking up that address and trying to connect it to the records he already had on Connors.

"Tim says that the address is for a vacation cottage in Cove Point Maryland," Ziva said to Tony. "It is about fifty mile from here, and from satellite maps, looks to be in an area deserted enough not to attract attention. Tim also discovered that Connors put in for leave beginning tomorrow."

"Let them know we'll meet them there," Tony said.

**DMDMDMDMDM**

Tony and Ziva watched the cottage from a safe distance while they waited for Tim and Gibbs to arrive with the warrant. Connor's car was parked outside the house, and things were quiet. At least for a while. Around four in the morning, a black minivan pulled slowly up the road and Tony swore.

"That's Kirsch's car," Tony told Ziva. "Which means things are going to get very tricky unless we intervene."

"What should we do?" Ziva asked the senior field agent.

"We try to keep them from going inside," Tony said even as he opened his door and climbed from the car. The van was stopped near the driveway to the cottage, but there was enough tree cover that Tony didn't think they would alert anyone in the house. Tony quickly approached the vehicle and knocked on the window. He flashed his badge at Weston and smiled.

"Major Weston, we've been looking for you all day," Tony said with false joviality. "If you and Mr. Kirsch would be so kind as to leave now, my team might be able to get your wife back unharmed."

"I can't just leave her," Weston said desperately. "He said he would kill her if I didn't come."

"He will kill both of you if you walk in there," Ziva said. She had come up to the other side of the van and was listening to the conversation through Kirsch's window. "Let us handle this. It is what we do. And we are very good at what we do."

Weston looked uncertain, but Kirsch nodded. "Jack, they can help us."

Finally Weston nodded.

Tony had them back the van up and park it behind their own car and Tony and Ziva climbed into the van.

"Tell us what he said when he contacted you," Tony said.

Weston swallowed hard. "He told me to get as much cash as I had together and meet him here at 0500. He said if I didn't come or if I didn't come alone, he would kill Karen. She's pregnant. Our first baby."

"We know," Ziva said soothingly. "We shall get her out safely."

"0500," Tony muttered. "That only gives us 45 minutes to get this together. How far away are Gibbs and Tim?"

"They should be here any moment," Ziva said. "They got a warrant for Connors' arrest as well as the warrant to search the property."

"Okay, I'm going to go check out the house," Tony said. "Abby sent the floor plan, but that won't tell us where Karen is being held. It also won't tell us what sort of defenses Connors has in place. He's only had a few hours, so I doubt he'd get have any traps outside the cottage, but he might have something set up inside. I also want to confirm that he's armed. You stay here and wait for Gibbs. I'll use the Bluetooth on my phone to keep in constant contact."

Ziva nodded. She knew that the only reason Tony hadn't asked her to go with him was because he wanted someone to sit with Weston and Kirsch. "I will let you know when Gibbs arrives."

Tony put in his Bluetooth earpiece, pulled out his phone and pressed the button for Ziva's number. Seconds later, she answered, her own earpiece in place.

Tony kept up a running, if quiet, commentary as he made his way through the trees to get a better look at the cottage. Connors had pulled the shades, so Tony couldn't just see inside, but with carefully quiet steps, he approached the house and found that he could see through the cracks at the edges of the shades. The first room he found was the living room. Connors was there, a gun in his hand, pacing back and forth. There was no sign of Karen Weston. Tony told that to Ziva.

"Gibbs has arrived," Ziva said. "Let us know when you locate Mrs. Weston. He and Tim are going to go through the front and take down Connors as soon as you are in position to get the hostage to safety."

"Got it," Tony said quietly. He moved to the next window, a bathroom, and found it empty. The next two windows were both dark and empty. Tony checked his watch. Fifteen minutes to go. If he didn't find Karen Weston soon, Connors would come and take her to protect himself during the meet.

He was in luck. The next window was another bedroom, but he saw Karen Weston tied to a chair at the foot of the bed.

"Found her," Tony said. "She's in the south Western corner bedroom. She's alone for the moment." He listened as Ziva passed the information along to Gibbs.

"Gibbs and McGee are in position and have visual on Connors. There is a second entrance to the cottage around the corner from you," Ziva said. "If you enter through there, she will be in the first room to your left. Be careful and be quiet."

"I know," Tony huffed even as he wiped the sweat from his brow and then his palms. The shaking from this morning was gone, but Tony knew he was not at top form right now and that made him nervous. He was even more nervous that another coughing fit would strike and blow their surprise. Shaking off those negative thoughts, Tony turned the corner and found the door.

Tony used slow careful steps to avoid making the wooden planks of the stairs creak and steady even breaths to keep from coughing. He reached the door and found it unlocked. He smirked. Not so bright bad guy here. He opened the door slowly to keep the squeak of the hinges to a minimum. Apparently the owner of this cottage kept it well maintained, because the hinges were oiled and there was no noise. Slipping down the hall was easy to do since there was no direct view from the living room.

Tony opened the bedroom door just as carefully and motioned to Mrs. Weston to keep still and silent. He showed her his badge even as he began to untie her. "I've got Mrs. Weston. Give me thirty seconds to get her safely hidden and into position."

Ziva replied in the affirmative and then relayed the information along. Mrs. Weston, who was listening, nodded and followed Tony's whispered instructions without protest. Tony indicated for her to get under the bed and remain quiet and still, then went back to the door. If Connors tried for the back door, he would be there to stop him. "I'm in position."

"On my mark," Ziva said. Tony knew she was counting down for his benefit, since the others were probably all wired with earwigs. "Three, two, one, Go!"

Tony heard the front door crash open and Gibbs shouting, "NCIS! Drop your weapon!" Several shots were fired and then Connors was running towards him even as Ziva was telling him the same thing. Connors wasn't expecting anyone back here and had lowered his weapon to run. Tony took aim and made himself known. Connors lifted his weapon, and Tony shot. One bullet through the man's shoulder and he dropped the weapon and staggered back. Tony kept his weapon aimed at his heart and told Ziva he had the suspect subdued.

Gibbs and Tim came around the corner following the same path that Connors had taken only moments before.

"Tim, Mrs. Weston is under the bed in the room to the left behind me," Tony said, his gaze never wavering from Connors, even as Gibbs began to cuff him and call for an ambulance. "Can you make sure that she's okay and show her to where her husband is waiting?"

"You got it Tony," Tim smiled. He moved around Tony in the narrow corridor and entered the bedroom. Tony finally lowered his weapon and felt the exhaustion begin to hit him. It wasn't just his hands shaking as the adrenaline began to wear off; his legs, his arms, his entire body was shaking. Just then, Ziva entered the corridor and helped Gibbs deal with Connors.

Tony, not sure he could stand much longer, stumbled all the way back to the car. A coughing fit overcame him and he tripped, falling to his hands and knees. He remained that way for some time, too drained to even think of getting back up, until Tim found him.

"Come on Tony, I've got you," Tim said.

Tony nodded. "Just help me up and give me a minute to catch my breath. I'll be fine."

Tim did as instructed but once Tony was up, he swayed. "You aren't fine."

"We have to process the scene," Tony said stubbornly.

Tim stared at Tony and eventually gave in. "Fine, but when we're done, you are going to see a doctor. Ducky at the very least. No waiting until Monday."

Tony looked like he wanted to protest, but the fact that he nodded was a testament to how weak he really felt. "Fine. Let's get back there before Gibbs throws a hissy fit."


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

The rest of the morning was a blur to Tony. They processed the scene until every piece of evidence had been bagged and tagged. Tony took pictures, not sure that he could crawl around bagging and tagging and still get up when it was done. As it was, he took twice as many pictures as usual, unsure whether or not he was getting things right. He figured his chance of getting good pictures was doubled if he took twice as many.

Tim drove the truck back with Tony, leaving Gibbs to take the car and Ziva had gone with Connors in the ambulance. It was a long ride and Tony slept the entire way. Tim was reluctant to wake him upon their return to headquarters, but he really didn't have much choice. Tim carried the box of evidence to the lab while Tony went up to the bullpen to begin with his report. The sooner he could get that finished, the sooner he could get out of there.

Gibbs was in a foul mood, despite the fact that they had solved the case and saved the Marine wife. He spent the first hour back at headquarters taking statements from Karen Weston, Jack Weston and James Kirsch. When that was finished, he came down to the bullpen and growled, "DiNozzo, go see how Abby's doing with that evidence we brought from the Weston house. I want a DNA match before I go interrogate that bastard."

Tony thought about saying no, but decided the fight would be more exhausting than just going. He wearily got to his feet and went to the elevator. The ride down was slow and Tony leaned against the wall of the elevator until the doors slid open. Once in the lab, he found Abby bouncing around.

"You got a DNA match on Connors yet?" Tony asked.

"Tim just gave me his blood sample an hour ago," Abby huffed. "He knows that it takes more time than that!"

"You tell him," Tony sighed tiredly.

Abby frowned. "Tony? You don't look so good. Maybe you should lie down. Go. You know where the futon is. I'll tell Gibbs he has to be patient."

Tony gave a weak smile. "Thanks Abs."

Abby gave him a kiss on the cheek, and her worry grew. "Tony, you're burning up! You need to see a doctor."

Tony nodded even as he dragged his feet to the futon. "Tim's going to take me once we're finished here."

"Okay, get some sleep," Abby sighed. "I'll let Tim know where to find you."

Tony practically fell onto the futon cushion and was asleep almost immediately. Except for the occasional coughing fit, he slept peacefully. Even the coughing couldn't wake him up completely, so absolute was his fatigue. The one thing that was _guaranteed_ to wake him up, however, was Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs shouted. "I did not send you down here to sleep!"

Tony sat up as quickly as his aching body would allow and stared blearily at Gibbs. "What?"

"Get your ass up to the bullpen and complete your report!"

"I don't think I can," Tony said. He was still exhausted, but the anger he had been trying to repress was beginning a slow boil, lending him strength. "I'm not well."

"I don't give a fuck!" Gibbs shouted. "Do your damn job"

"Of course you don't give a fuck," Tony growled as he slowly got to his feet. "You've made that more than obvious. Why the fuck did you even bother to bring me back here?"

"Right now? I'm not sure, DiNozzo," Gibbs said baldly.

Tony saw red. "Then why don't you just ship me back out? Or better yet, I'll save you the trouble. I quit. You can shove your head slaps, your arrogance and your stupid rules up your ass!"

Tony grabbed his badge and tossed it at Gibbs before stalking out of Abby's office. It was then that he noticed that Abby, Tim and Ziva were looking on in horror.

Tony couldn't stop to reassure them, however, because he knew if he stopped moving, he would collapse. He made his way to the elevator and headed down to the lobby.

Back in the lab, Tim began to go after Tony, but Gibbs called him back. "Where do you think you're going McGee?"

"After Tony," McGee said with as much force as he could muster in the face of Gibbs' wrath. "He rode with me today."

"He's a big boy, McGee," Gibbs said snidely. "I think he can find his own way home. You have work to do."

Tim scowled. "I'm not sure you heard him, Boss. Tony's sick."

"I heard him all right," Gibbs said. "I just don't give a damn."

"Right," Tim said, nodding his head, a hard look in his eyes. "In that case, you can have my badge as well. I quit." Tim handed his badge to Gibbs, but the older man refused to take it, so Tim gave it to Ziva. She smiled sadly at him with tears in her eyes. He nodded and kissed her cheek.

Abby rushed over, hugged Tim and whispered in his ear, "Take care of Tony. I think he's really sick. I'll call later, yeah?"

Tim pulled away and smiled. "I will, and you better."

With that, he left the lab and went to find Tony. Knowing how bad Tony was feeling, he was sure he wouldn't have considered going to pack up his desk. Instead, he took the elevator down to the lobby and found Tony asleep on one of the benches. Tim walked over to him and gently shook him awake.

"Hey, Tony?" Tim said. When Tony's green eyes seemed to recognize him, Tim continued. "Let's get you to that doctor."

"Called a cab," Tony muttered even as he allowed Tim to pull him to his feet and lead him towards the parking lot.

"Well, they'll just have to get another fare," Tim said.

Soon they were buckled in and Tim turned the car out of the Navy Yard and towards Bethesda. Tony was asleep again. Tim pulled out his cell and found the number for Dr. Pitt. He'd kept the doctor's number ever since Tony had been sick with the plague, never trusting that there wouldn't be a relapse of some sort.

"Dr. Pitt?" Tim said when the familiar voice answered. "This is Agent Tim McGee from NCIS. I'm not sure if you remember me… Oh, you do. Good, that will make things easier. Tony's with me and he's in bad shape. We're on our way to Bethesda…. Bad coughing fits, fever, weakness, fatigue… No, I'm not sure about that. Yes, some shaking and chills…. He said he caught a cold while he was stationed on the USS Seahawk and was having trouble getting rid of the cough. But then we caught a case yesterday and have been running for more than 24 hours straight and he's gone downhill fast…. Yes. He made me his medical proxy…. We'll be there in fifteen minutes. Thanks Dr. Pitt…. Okay, thanks Brad."

Tim glanced back at Tony who hadn't stirred through the entire conversation. There was an occasional cough, but nothing bad enough to wake him up yet. Tim thought about the conversation they had had the day before about trying to have a relationship. He wanted that more than he had realized. And the thought that something might be seriously wrong with Tony scared the hell out of him. Now that he was dreaming a future with Tony, he was afraid they might never get to fulfill those dreams.

A few minutes later, Tony's small coughs transformed into one of the bad fits and he woke himself up. He was bending forward trying to catch his breath between hacking coughs. Tim kept driving, his speed picking up even more. When Tony sat back, his breathing labored and his eyes wild, Tim wanted to pull the car over, but knew he was only a minute or two from the hospital.

"This…isn't…good," Tony gasped out. Tim glanced down at what Tony was looking at and saw that there was blood in the mucus on Tony's lips.

**DMDMDMDMDM**

Tony was unconscious again when they arrived at Bethesda, but Brad was there waiting with a stretcher and two nurses. Tim helped them get Tony out of the car and listened while Brad gave him instructions about where he was taking Tony so he could follow. It took almost ten minutes to find a parking space, and Tim was out the door almost before he got the parking brake set on the Porsche. He followed the directions Brad had given him at a quick pace, having to force himself not to run.

Tim recognized this part of the hospital. It was where Tony was kept when he was recovering from the plague. Tim prayed that this wasn't some sort of relapse. Even after Gibbs had ordered Tony to live, things had been touch and go for weeks.

When Tim reached room 451, he found Brad and a nurse doing an exam of Tony. They already had an oxygen mask over his mouth and Tony seemed to be breathing a bit easier, though he was still unconscious. He had an IV in his left arm, already dripping fluids to help Tony. The bed was raised so that Tony wouldn't be able to lie prone, which Tim knew would aggravate the coughing even more. He stood in the doorway and watched in silence until Brad and the nurse finished.

"Hey Tim," Brad said with a smile. "Looks like Tony's got himself into another jam."

"How is he?" Tim asked with real concern.

"He's going to be fine," Brad said. "He has pneumonia. He knows that his chances of contracting the disease are much greater than the average person because of his history. Honestly, he should have sought medical attention earlier."

"He saw the ship's doctor," Tim defended. "And he's only been back for about three days. Half of that time we've been on a case. He said he had an appointment with you on Monday."

"He did," Brad said. "I would have insisted that he come right away if I had known why. He still has regular follow-up visits twice a year. After being away so long, he was overdue."

"Oh." Tim frowned. It wasn't new information that Tony hated being ill and hated going to the doctor even more.

"Hey," Brad said. "This isn't his fault. And it isn't yours. It just happened."

"Right," Tim agreed. "So what happens now?"

"I've got him started on antibiotics, but I'll be honest with you, I don't expect them to help," Brad said.

"Why?" Tim asked.

"Because he said this started from a cold which is viral," Brad said. "Antibiotics will only help if it is bacterial. If it _**is**_ viral, he'll just have to tough it out. We'll give him some medications to treat the symptoms, but it will probably be 6 to 8 weeks before he's back to full strength."

Tim nodded. "Will he have to stay here the whole time? He'll hate that."

Brad chuckled. "Not if I have anything to do with it. I'd say a minimum of three days, just to make sure that the treatments are beginning to work, whether the antibiotics or other medications. He's dehydrated and his fever is up higher than I would like, which is the real reason I'm keeping him. He's worn himself out and his body can't fight the infection like this. I'd like to make sure that he's got some strength back before I release him."

Tim sighed with relief. "Good. That's good."

"I'll warn you now, though," Brad said seriously, "I won't release him unless he has someone to take care of him at least for the first week or two. After that, he'll still be weak and miserable, but he should be over the worst of it. If it isn't you with him, he'll need a nurse."

"He's living with me right now," Tim confided. "He lost his apartment while he was at sea for four months. And since we both just turned in our badges, I doubt that we'll need a nurse."

Brad's eyebrows shot up at that. "You both quit NCIS?" Brad pulled Tim over into an empty waiting area.

Tim sighed and let Brad push him into a seat. "Yeah. Gibbs was being more of a bastard than usual. He totally ignored Tony while he was gone, and then was pushing Tony harder and being even worse than usual since he got back. Tony's hurt and angry, but I just can't figure out what's going on with Gibbs. He's always treated Tony more like a son than any of us. Now…. He found Tony sleeping after we finally brought down this kidnapper we were chasing and he laid into him. Tony told him he was sick, but Gibbs just told him he didn't give a fuck."

"Jesus," Brad swore. "That doesn't sound like the same guy who ordered Tony to live and threatened my life if I let him die the last time Tony was sick."

"No it doesn't," Tim agreed. "Anyway, Tony had taken more than enough and fought back. He quit and walked out of the lab, probably using the last of his waning strength. I went to follow and Gibbs told me that Tony could find his own way home and that I had work to do, so I quit too."

Brad shook his head. "This kind of emotional upheaval isn't good for Tony. I'm going to put Gibbs on a do not admit list with the front desk. If he has a problem with that, he can speak with me. Until I know that he isn't going to upset my patient, he won't be allowed anywhere near Tony."

"Thanks Brad," Tim sighed. "But I doubt you need to worry. Everyone could see how sick Tony was, and Gibbs just didn't care. I doubt he'll even make the attempt."

**DMDMDMDMDM**

"Jethro!"

Gibbs cringed as he swallowed more scotch than he probably should have. He should have expected that Ducky would be paying him a visit.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Ducky demanded. He looked at Gibbs, and then at the half empty bottle of Glen Fiddich that Ducky had given him two days ago to celebrate the reunion of the team. They were supposed to drink a toast together this weekend, but he knew that would not be happening now. He noticed the glassy eyes and slightly slower reaction times; Jethro was definitely drunk. "And drinking away your guilt will not work. I would have thought that you would know this by now!"

"Leave it, Ducky," Gibbs mumbled. He swayed on his feet as he walked over to the crate beside his workbench and sat down. "This is none of your business."

"You made it my business when you sent an obviously ill agent out to fend for himself after demanding that he continue to work," Ducky said. "Tim called. Tony's been admitted to Bethesda. He has pneumonia. I'm sure his condition was exacerbated by the way you were driving him today and all day yesterday."

"My girls have been talking," Gibbs muttered darkly.

"Your girls, as you call them, are worried about you and about Tony," Ducky said. "They cannot understand how you could turn on him so quickly after fighting so hard to get him back here."

Gibbs threw his almost empty glass at the wall and watched as it shattered. "It's none of their goddamn business!"

"Of course not," Ducky said sarcastically. "Never mind that they all see this team as a family. And you have just turned on one of your own. Not only are they concerned for Tony, but now they are worried that you will suddenly turn on one of them as well. And rightfully so! Look how you turned on Tim for trying to help his friend."

Gibbs gave Ducky a steely look. "Aren't you afraid that I'll turn on you too?"

Ducky laughed. "I think not, my dear boy. It is not in your nature to physically harm one who is weaker than yourself; though you aren't above hurting those who are weaker emotionally, it seems. But I am not weaker emotionally. If you turn on me, I have the fortitude to carry on. I have done so before and I will again if I must."

Gibbs felt like he was shattering just like the glass he had just thrown. "Damn it Duck! I can't do this."

"What can't you do?" Ducky said.

Gibbs took deep breaths and shook his head. "I can't tell you."

Ducky raised an eyebrow. "Can't or won't."

"Can't."

Ducky looked Gibbs in the eyes and saw the pain and fear there. It was something that he had never seen before. He'd seen Gibbs in pain, but never like this. And he had never seen his friend truly afraid.

"Alright," Ducky said slowly. "You cannot tell me. But if you do not, then I cannot help you fix this disaster."

Gibbs looked like a lost little boy as he turned his eyes to Ducky. "I…."

"Jethro, you need help," Ducky said. "Whatever is driving this is obviously more than you can handle on your own. Talk to me. Let me help you."

Finally Gibbs nodded. "Vance. He doesn't like the way our team runs. The only way he would agree to let them come home is if… if I agreed to make some changes. I _**needed**_them home."

"And part of those changes included getting Tony to quit?" Ducky asked in confusion.

"No, he doesn't like the fact that we act like family," Gibbs said. "He thinks it's dangerous. He thinks that's why we are so hard to control. He thinks that's why Jenny died. So he split us up. He wasn't going to ever let them come back home, Ducky."

"But you found a way to get them here," Ducky said. "And agreed to try and change the team dynamics to please the Director."

"Tony's the soul of this team," Gibbs said. "If he hates me, then everyone will and then there won't be a problem any more."

"Except that everyone will hate you," Ducky said. "And Tony didn't just settle for sitting back and hating you quietly. He quit and Tim went with him. Your scheme didn't work."

"It failed spectacularly," Gibbs said. "And now Tony's sick and I can't even…."

"We will work this through, Jethro, and find a solution," Ducky said calmly. "And then you will apologize and pray to everything that is holy that Tony forgives you. But for tonight, I think it's about time you went to bed. I think you will be better prepared to fight Vance if you aren't three sheets to the wind."

Gibbs nodded numbly and Ducky sighed. He helped his friend to his feet and soon had him tucked into bed.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

Abby and Ziva came to the hospital as soon as they finished clearing the Weston case. Tony was still sleeping, drugged into unconsciousness now. Brad said that the sleep was beneficial and the drugs would keep him from waking himself up with coughing. It didn't stop Tony coughing altogether, but it helped.

"How's he doing?" Abby asked after she released Tim from her tight hug.

"Brad says that he'll be okay," Tim said. "It'll be a long recovery, especially if it turns out to be viral, but he'll definitely get better. It's just tough seeing him so pale and lifeless. And the coughing… it brings back memories of when he had the plague. I don't remember feeling quite so helpless then."

"Things have changed since then, no?" Ziva asked.

"What do you mean?" Abby asked. She hadn't been with Tim and Tony all day to see the differences in their behavior.

"I mean since Tony and Tim have become more than friends," Ziva said.

Tim sputtered while Abby squealed. Then she turned to Tim and punched him hard in the arm. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Tim frowned. "Because there was nothing to tell! I swear!"

"Then what is Ziva talking about?" Abby demanded.

"I don't know!" Tim said defensively.

"I am speaking of this new depth of feelings that you and Tony share," Ziva said matter-of-factly. "Tony denied that the relationship had become physical, but he did not deny the relationship."

Tim sagged when he met Abby's demanding gaze again. "We're… we want to see if it could be something. But we haven't even kissed. We were going to go on our first date tonight before all of this happened."

"He has made you his medical proxy," Ziva said. "That implies a level of feeling deeper than friendship or dating."

Tim shook his head. "That's more to do with Gibbs than whatever fledgling relationship Tony and I have."

"What do you mean?" Abby asked.

"I mean that Gibbs started this…whatever is going on…long before Tony got back," Tim sighed. "He has been doing everything in his power to alienate Tony for months. So Tony made me his proxy instead of Gibbs. But that was long before he and I…."

"I told Ducky what Gibbs did," Abby said sadly. "I'm just so angry with Gibbs. How could he treat Tony like that? Anyone looking at him could see he was sick. And after the way Tony's family…"

"What about Tony's family?" Ziva asked.

Abby looked at Tim, but he refused to break Tony's confidence. He knew she knew some of Tony's past, but he knew more and he wouldn't tell, not after working so hard to get Tony to trust him again.

Abby saw Tim close up and knew she shouldn't say anything. "They weren't very nice to Tony."

"How do you mean?" Ziva asked.

"I can't really say," Abby sighed. "But suffice it to say, much of Tony's insecurities can be laid at his father's feet. But Gibbs knows how insecure Tony is about these sorts of things. The fact that he used that against him… Well, it makes me even angrier. And more confused."

"I spoke to Ducky as well," Ziva said. "He has promised to discover the cause of Gibbs' lunacy."

"He has a better shot of getting to the bottom of this than any of us," Tim said. He looked back at Tony who was still sleeping, despite their conversation. "Brad has blocked Gibbs from visiting Tony."

"I doubt a ban will stop Gibbs if he really wants in here," Abby said.

"The question is, will he want to see Tony?" Ziva asked.

"There must be a reason for this," Abby said firmly. "Gibbs loves Tony like a son. I know he does. You remember how broken up he was when Tony had the plague, Timmy? And when we all thought he was dead when his car exploded? He cares, no matter what he's been saying or doing lately."

"I believe you are correct," Ziva said. "I saw pain in his eyes when Tony walked away. As soon as he realized I was watching, his mask of anger returned, but I know what I saw."

"If he doesn't hate Tony, then why would he do this?" Tim asked in bewilderment.

"Because he's being forced?" Abby suggested.

"Can anyone force Gibbs to do anything?" Tim asked with a hint of disbelief.

"Only if they were threatening one or all of us," Ziva said.

"And who has the power to threaten us?" Abby asked. "No one but the new director."

"Gibbs tried for months to get us back together," Tim said. "I saw daily requisitions go through the system. What if the only way Vance would allow us to come back was if Gibbs did something? Maybe alienate the team, so that even though we're together, we aren't together?"

"And if any of us quit, Vance wins anyway," Ziva said thoughtfully.

"Do you really think the director would be so cold and calculating?" Tim asked.

"He blames Tony and I for Jenny's death," Ziva shrugged. "If he thinks that the root of us following her directive can be found in the way our team operates, then, yes, I do believe he could be that cold and calculating."

"So what do we do about it?" Abby asked.

"We speak with Ducky," Ziva said. "He will have spoken with Gibbs tonight. Together I believe we will be able to come up with a plan."

"Knowing Gibbs, he's pretty drunk right now," Abby said thoughtfully. "Ducky will put him to bed and want to talk tomorrow. So we show up at Gibbs' house."

"You guys go ahead," Tim said. "But I'm not leaving Tony unless they kick me out of here. Besides, even if there was a reason for his behavior, I'm not sure I can forgive Gibbs for hurting Tony like this. At least not right now, when Tony's so weak and ill."

Abby nodded. "I'm angry too, but I want the old Gibbs back, and I want you and Tony back. The best shot we have of getting that is to fix the mess that Vance and Gibbs have made of everything."

"Like I said, you go ahead," Tim smiled and kissed Abby's cheek. "I'll even do what I can from here. But I won't tell Brad to lift the ban unless Tony asks to see Gibbs."

"Okay," Ziva said decisively. "Visiting hours are almost over. We will go and get you something to eat and then be on our way."

"I'll stop by your house and make sure that the dog walker is taking care of Jethro," Abby said. "And I'll bring back some clothes for you when I come to visit tomorrow."

Tim nodded but was almost relieved when the two women left. He needed time to think. Everything they had said tonight was pure conjecture, but it made a lot more sense than Gibbs suddenly turning on Tony. But, as he had said, it didn't excuse Gibbs' using Tony's weakness against him. He had to know how much his indifference and animosity would hurt the younger man. Even before they had become so close, Tim had know at least that much. Tony put up a good front, but he craved Gibbs' attention and approval in a way that showed just how much he cared for his mentor.

Tim thought about what Abby had almost said to Ziva. He knew that Ziva would not just the topic drop, but hopefully she would respect the fact that they were keeping their word to Tony. Tony's family, his blood family, had a lot to answer for as far as Tim was concerned. He'd grown up in a loving family. He had never doubted his place or the love of his parents. He had never been beaten because his father drank too much or been sent away to boarding school because his latest stepmother didn't want him around. His grandfather had never railed at him and blamed him for things that could not be his fault.

But Tony had survived. And he had learned to trust even though he couldn't trust his own family. He had learned how to be a friend and a great agent. And Tim hoped that he had the opportunity to see Tony learn how to be in a loving relationship. He knew that Tony had thought he was in love with Jeanne. And he knew that he wasn't afraid of commitment the way he once had been. But he also knew that compromise, communication and constancy—as his grandfather had always told him—were what made or broke a relationship over the long haul. Tony had never seen that growing up the way Tim had, and had never had a chance to learn it since. Tim would be glad to help him learn.

Ziva brought the food back alone, and made quick work of making sure that Tim had everything he needed before leaving again. He was glad that he and Tony had such good friends. He knew that Tony thought of them more like family. He knew Abby and Ziva did as well. Gibbs and Ducky probably did too, for that matter. But Tim had his family and he loved them. The team was something different, though no less important in his life. He loved each one of them and would give his life to protect them. Which is probably why Gibbs' actions hurt so much. Not just for Tony's sake, but because Gibbs was ripping apart the trust and affection that they all depended upon.

Tim set the chair to recline. It wasn't very comfortable, but it was better than sitting up all night. He reached out and took Tony's hind in his and smiled. He hadn't expected Tony to approach him in the way that he had. In fact, he had never really thought about any man in a romantic way. But when Tony had taken his hand, something had blossomed inside of him. It wasn't the same as when he and Abby had been together, or any of the other women he had dated. There was something unusual about the fluttering in his heart when Tony touched him. He'd always felt butterflies in his stomach when he'd first been with Abby and other women. His heart hadn't been moved at all. Tim thought it might be because he had feelings for Tony long before that first touch of their hands. Not that he'd recognized those feelings as anything but friendship, but, thinking back, he realized that his heart had done that same flutter when Tony had said they could keep chatting after that first time. And it had fluttered every time Tony would log on to the computer and the little message box would pop up.

He'd been in love with Tony for months and had never known it.

**DMDMDMDMDM**

Tony woke slowly. Even before he opened his eyes, however, he recognized that he was in a hospital. It was a combination of the sounds and smells and the floaty feeling from the good drugs. He also noted that someone was holding his hand. Well that was new. Oh. Probably Tim. Tony squeezed the hand and smiled when he heard Tim gasp and felt him sit up. He'd obviously fallen to sleep holding Tony's hand.

"Tony?"

Tony's smile widened as he finally opened his eyes. "Hey."

Tim's worried frown faded and turned into a smile that matched Tony's

"How am I doin'?" Tony asked.

"Pneumonia," Tim said with a grimace.

Tony grimaced back. "How long?"

"A couple weeks if it's bacterial," Tim said.

"But since I had a cold first, it's more likely viral," Tony said and Tim nodded. "So how long?'

"Brad said he'd likely send you home in a few days," Tim said, getting the good news out first. "But it will be 6 to 8 weeks before you are back to full health."

"Shit," Tony muttered.

"Well, look at it this way, it'll give us both more time to look for new jobs," Tim said.

Tiny groaned. "I had almost forgotten about that. Wait. Both of us? Tim, what did you do?"

"I handed him my badge when he wouldn't let me take you home," Tim said meekly, unsure how Tony would take this news.

"You quit?" Tony asked with surprise. "For me?"

Tim nodded. "And for me. If Gibbs turned on you, how long before he turns on the rest of us?"

"I just don't get it, Tim," Tony said. "Why would he do that? After all this time?"

"The girls have a theory," Tim said. He went on to explain what Ziva and Abby had come up with. While he spoke, Tony's frown deepened. "In the end, I don't think that whatever his reasons are that they justify treating you the way he has. He knows how you feel and he used that against you. I told the girls I'd help if it turns out Vance is behind this, but I'm not sure I want to go back even if we find out he was."

Tony looked startled by that. "Why?"

"It's that trust thing," Tim said with a small smile. "After this, I don't know if any of us can trust him again. I certainly wouldn't blame you if you couldn't."

"Don't make any rash decisions," Tony said. "Oh wait, you already did when you turned in your badge."

"Hey, you turned yours in first," Tim said.

"I did, didn't I?" Tony smiled. "I just meant, I'm learning that sometimes we can learn to trust again, even when someone hurts us. You taught me that."

"And you taught me to stand up for myself," Tim said.

The emotional moment was broken by a rough bout of coughing and Brad entered the room just as it was subsiding.

"How's my favorite patient?" Brad smirked. "Even if you are a Buckeye."

"Better than a Wolverine," Tony said with a voice raspy from coughing.

"Well, you look like hell," Brad said. "And I'm pretty sure you feel like hell, but you're going to survive this time."

"Tim said it's pneumonia," Tony said.

Brad nodded. "You aren't responding to the antibiotics we've been giving you, so I'm going to take you off of them. That means that the pneumonia is viral."

"And my recovery time just tripled," Tony sighed. "Great."

"The good news is that you are responding to the other treatments and I expect that you'll be able to go home on Monday," Brad said with a smile. "As long as you have someone to keep an eye on you. But Tim has already said that wouldn't be a problem."

Tony gave Tim a soft smile. "Yeah. We both quit."

"That's what he said," Brad smiled. So that's the way of things. "I'd let you go home now, except for the fact that you ran yourself into the ground, even though you knew you were sick." There was a note of censure in Brad's voice this time.

"Hey, I was supposed to come see you Monday," Tony shrugged. "I figured it could wait a couple days. Didn't know we would catch a case that would keep us running for 24 hours straight."

"That's always a possibility in our job," Tim reminded him.

"Well, you don't have to worry about me working crazy hours right now," Tony sighed. "Don't have to worry about working any hours."

"Even if you hadn't quit, you wouldn't be working," Brad said. "And even when I release you to go home, I am not releasing you to do anything but rest in bed."

Tony nodded. "Got it, Doc. Um… how is my quitting going to affect having you as my doctor?"

Brad frowned. "Well, until I see something in writing, you are still an employee of NCIS. After… I would assume that because both the plague and this latest illness can be directly connected to your work for NCIS that the Navy will cover you. But I'll check into it just to be sure."

"Thanks Brad," Tim said. "We'd both feel better knowing Tony won't have to change doctors in the middle of treatment."

Brad smiled again. "So are we talking about this?"

"About what?" Tony asked in confusion.

"About the fact that you and Tim here have been discussing your illness and treatment as if it is a team effort," Brad teased. "Or the fact that you've been holding hands since I came into the room?"

Tony looked down at their hands and saw that their fingers were still interlaced. "Oh." Tim blushed and Tony just smiled. "Yeah, we can talk about it. We aren't exactly hiding anything. It's all still pretty new."

"Haven't even kissed yet," Tim muttered, and something in his voice made Tony look at him. Well, he could correct that little oversight.

Brad laughed. "Well, I'm not going to go telling tales, but I'm glad you have someone to lean on right now, Tony. You remember how hard it was recovering from the plague. This isn't going to be much better."

"Thanks," Tony said.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

Abby and Ziva arrived at Gibbs' house together the next morning. Ducky's antique Morgan was already parked out front, so they walked up to the front door and knocked. In the past, they might have just walked in, but there was a silent agreement between the two women that things were different now.

"Good morning," Gibbs said once he saw who was there. "Can I help you?"

"The question is, can we help you?" Abby said as she shoved past Gibbs and into the house. "Duckman!"

"In the kitchen, my dear," Ducky called back. Ziva looked at Gibbs' scowl and followed the Goth into the house. They had brought bagels, fruit salad, cream cheese, jam and juice and Abby was already setting them out while Ducky got plates and silverware together.

"I'll pour the juice," Ziva said. "And get the coffee things together."

Gibbs, who had followed the ladies into the kitchen just watched as his team took over his home. It felt good to know that they didn't all hate him. But he also was not pleased that Ducky had involved them in this. What he had told Ducky, he had told him in confidence.

It only took a few minutes to get everything together and soon they were all seated at the dining table with their breakfast.

"So, is anyone going to tell me exactly what is going on here?" Gibbs finally asked.

"We're here to help you with Vance," Abby said.

Gibbs shot Ducky a dark look, but the ME just smiled. "Don't look at me. I didn't tell them anything. Ziva called me this morning on my way here and asked if I was coming to see you and said they would be close behind."

"So what exactly do you think is going on?" Gibbs asked.

"We were talking with Tim at the hospital last night," Abby said and then paused. "Ducky did tell you Tony's in the hospital, right?" Gibbs nodded and a ghost of something that looked like pain washed over Gibbs' face for a moment. Abby realized what Ziva had seen the day before. "He's going to be okay, Gibbs. It's pneumonia, but Brad Pitt's working on him and thinks he'll be able to go home in a couple days. Tim said Wednesday at the latest."

Gibbs nodded again.

"Anyway, we were discussing the events of the last few days," Ziva said in a matter-of-fact tone. "We have decided that your uncharacteristic behavior has its roots in Director Vance's attitude towards our team. And we have also decided that you need our help to fix this mess."

"Who, exactly, is 'we'?" Gibbs asked.

Ziva and Abby shared a look. "Mostly Abby and I. But Tim said he would do what he could from the hospital."

Gibbs looked away and Abby sighed. "He's angry and hurt, Bossman. He's angry mostly because you hurt Tony. But he'll get over it. In time."

"It was the only way I could get everyone here," Gibbs said.

"You should have asked for help," Abby scolded. "You should have asked long before you agreed to Vance's craziness. You hurt Tony and you hurt McGee."

"I hurt you too," Gibbs said. "And I knew how it would be long before I ever acted."

"This is not the time for self-recrimination, Jethro," Ducky said. "There will be time when this is all settled to make amends, but we need to concentrate on figuring out how to fix this problem first."

"You're right, Ducky," Gibbs said decisively. "Okay, here's what we know so far…"

**DMDMDMDMDM**

Two hours later, the ladies left to visit Tony at the hospital. They would go to headquarters from there, and meet Gibbs. They knew that the Director was currently out in LA doing some work with the teams out there, so they had at least the weekend free from having to watch their every move.

"Hey Ducky," Gibbs said, stopping the older man just as he was about to leave. "Have you noticed any changes in the relationship between DiNozzo and McGee?"

Ducky raised his eyebrows. "I have not spent much time with either of them. I was not on this latest case, and other than the welcoming for Tony, haven't really seen them together. Why?"

"Just something that Abby said," Gibbs relied. "She said that Tim was hurt because I hurt Tony. I could see angry, but hurt? And the way they have interacted since Tony's return has been different. There is less tormenting and more concern. Every time Tony coughed or got angry with me, Tim would look worried. And Tony would watch Tim all the time."

"You think they have developed romantic feelings for one another?" Ducky asked.

"I don't know," Gibbs said. "I know that Tony is staying with Tim because of his apartment, but I wonder if there's' more to it than that."

Ducky patted his arm. "Do not trouble yourself too much over it. If they have begun a relationship, it seems to have had a good effect on them. From what Ziva and Abby have told me, they were like a well oiled machine on the Weston case."

"Yeah," Gibbs said. "Tony did some of his best work on that case and I couldn't even acknowledge it."

"You will tell him when the time is right," Ducky said.

"When will that be?" Gibbs wondered. "Tony's in the hospital, and I've been barred from visiting. Even if Brad hadn't blocked me, Tim would. And Tim's his medical proxy now. When did that happen?"

"When he was onboard the Seahawk," Ducky said. "I was the one who signed off on it."

"Back then?" Gibbs frowned. "But why? I didn't start trying to push him until he came back."

Ducky laughed humorlessly. "You are so oblivious sometimes, Jethro. You may not have tried to push him away, but did you do anything to assure him of his place in you life, on this team? Or did you write some terse email and let it go with that?"

Gibbs cringed. "I was so busy trying to get him back. I told him that."

"Did you ask how he was doing?"

"No," Gibbs said. "I didn't ask. I didn't ask him anything. I didn't set up a satlink or try to call. I didn't do any of the things I should have done. Damn it! No wonder he walked away. He thinks…."

"He thinks you do not care," Ducky said quietly.

"But I do," Gibbs said just as quietly. "He's like… like a son to me."

"I know," Ducky said and patted Gibbs shoulder again. "You will find a way to show him that when the time comes. For now, allow Tim to take care of him and allow Tony time to rest and recover."

Gibbs nodded. "Let me know what you find out about his condition?"

"Of course," Ducky said, and then he left.

Gibbs stood in his hall and stared at the closed door for a long time before heading down to the basement. He had some work to do.

**DMDMDMDMDM**

"How are you feeling, young Anthony?" Ducky asked as he entered Tony's room later that afternoon. Timothy was sitting beside the bed and working on something on his laptop.

"Like my chest is a few sizes too small," Tony said with a weak grin.

"That seems appropriate," Ducky said. "I will not reprimand you for not coming to see me as soon as you felt ill. I will, however, remind you that the door to autopsy is always open to you."

"Thanks, Duck," Tony said. "I've gotten plenty of lectures since Tim brought me here. Abby got me just this morning."

"I spoke with Dr. Pitt," Ducky said. "It seems you are doing much better for some rest and fluids. Not to mention medication."

"Says I'll go home Monday as long as I promise to behave," Tony said. "I wish I was going home today."

"Monday will be soon enough," Tim said without looking up from his computer.

"What are you doing, Timothy?" Ducky asked.

"Working on hacking Vance's files," Tim said without apology. "Something that Abby said this morning struck a chord. I saw some things while I was in Cyber Crimes. The agency uses that department for more than tracking cyber crimes, you know? Anyway, I saw some forms while I was doing work for Vance, and I think it might help us now."

"Which is why he's been ignoring me for that past two hours," Tony griped good-naturedly.

"You slept most of that time," Tim pointed out. He looked up at Ducky. "He gets tired really easy."

"I shall keep my visit short," Ducky said. "Timothy, why don't you take advantage of my presence and take a break, perhaps go get some food from the cafeteria here."

Tim gave Ducky a long look before agreeing. "Okay. Tony, I'll be back in a half hour."

"Get some pizza for me while you're out," Tony said.

"I don't think that's on the recommended diet Brad gave us," Tim said.

"But I don't feel nauseous at all," Tony whined. "And I'm hungry for something more than the stuff they pass for food around here."

Tim grinned. That was his Tony. "I'll see what Brad says."

Once he was gone, Tony turned back to Ducky. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Jethro," Ducky said as he took Tim's empty seat.

Tony frowned. "I know the reasons. But Ducky, it doesn't change the fact that he made a choice. He deliberately did things to hurt me."

"Not completely deliberately," Ducky corrected. "He didn't realize until I pointed out to him this morning that he had ignored you while you were gone. He hadn't realized how much his silence was hurting you."

"It hurt more than the harsh words since I got back," Tony admitted, fiddling nervously with the blanket.

"I know it did," Ducky said. "You have put up with some of Jethro's worst moods and for far longer than any other agent since he came to NCIS. Harsh words would not make you leave. But silence would."

"It was like…"

"Like your father all over again," Ducky supplied and Tony nodded.

"Well, believe it or not, Jethro spent last night drinking himself into a stupor because of the guilt that has been eating away at him over his behavior towards you. He wants to try to find a way to make things right, but he will give you the time and space you need. He will not come until you call for him. But Tony, do not let him suffer too long," Ducky advised. "He needs you as much as you need him, though he doesn't always comprehend that."

Tony nodded and swallowed hard. This would mean so much more coming from Gibbs, but he knew he wasn't ready to face the man yet. "Thanks, Ducky."

"So, tell me what is transpiring with you and Timothy," Ducky said with a gleam in his eyes.

Tony groaned. "Jeez, Duck! We haven't even been on a date yet! How does everyone know?"

"Because you two are not very subtle about your feelings," Ducky said. "The smallest changes become very obvious. So I take it this is quite new."

"Just since Thursday," Tony agreed. "Don't know where it's headed yet, but I really think it could work."

"Just keep in mind that it will take effort to make it work and I think you will be fine," Ducky said as he patted Tony's hand.

**DMDMDMDMDM**

Ducky was gone by the time Tim got back, and Tony was sleeping. He wondered if Tony had fallen asleep during one of Ducky's longwinded stories and smiled. Then again, he'd fallen asleep on Abby as well, and she was almost impossible to sleep through. Tm hated to wake him but knew Tony would kill him if he didn't.

"Hey sleepyhead," Tim said as he gently touched Tony's cheek.

Tony's eyes fluttered open and he smiled. "Was just resting my eyes."

"Yeah, well, I brought you pizza," Tim said and watched Tony's eyes light up. He set the tray on Tony's bed table and wheeled it so Tony could reach while Tony adjusted the bed to sit up. When Tim went to move back to his seat, Tony grabbed his arm and pulled him forward. Their lips met and Tony was glad he had made the first move to get them here. Kissing Tim was instantly one of his very favorite things in the world. It ranked right up there with Pizza and a beer while watching Sean Connery as James Bond. And then Tim parted his lips and their tongues met and the kiss hit the top of Tony's list with a few extra stars for good measure.

Eventually, Tony's lungs couldn't take any more, and he had to break the kiss, but he didn't regret a second of it, despite the fact that he spent the next few minutes panting as though he had just run a marathon. Tim looked worried, but pleased. Tony grinned at him and picked up his pizza.

"I can't believe Brad approved this," Tony said between bites of the greasy slice.

Tim flushed. "Well, he didn't specifically approve pizza. He said that you could eat what ever you want as long as your stomach will tolerate it. He said some people feel sick to their stomachs or lose their appetite while sick with pneumonia, but wasn't surprised to find out you aren't one of them."

"God, this is the worst pizza in the history of pizza, and it's still better than anything else I've ever eaten in a hospital," Tony said. "You should ask the girls to bring a pie form Eddie's the next time they visit. With sausage and pepperoni and extra cheese. Or maybe something from that Thai place you like so much."

Tim was sure that Tony would have continued along this line for an hour, as excited as he was, but his lungs had other ideas, and he had to set the pizza down to deal with the coughing fit that wracked his entire body. A few minutes later, Tony sat back against the bed and looked tiredly at what was left of the two slices of pizza Tim had brought.

"They'll keep for a while if you want to rest," Tim said. "I won't let anyone throw them out."

"Good idea," Tony said, his head already nodding to the side. Tim reached out and used the bed controls to let Tony lean back a bit more before taking his seat and picking up his laptop once again.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

Gibbs sat at his desk on Sunday morning and stared at the two badges laying there. He knew that he should process their resignations—hell, he should have done it on Friday—but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't believe that they were gone for good. He had to believe that they would work things out and come back.

The file cabinet to his right held copies of all the forms he needed and Gibbs wasted no time opening it and finding the right files. The first form was for unpaid leave of absence. It took little time to fill in McGee's information and sign off on it. Tony's was a bit more difficult, since he not only needed medical leave, but short term disability, and incident reports for NCIS's files. He'd have Ducky fill in his portion as the Team's doctor on Monday. When he was through, as far as NCIS, or Vance, knew, Tony and Tim were both on leaves of absence.

Looking around the empty bullpen, Gibbs remembered how empty it had felt all those months when his team was gone. Now that they were back, it felt just as empty. Vance had done this. With his help.

Ducky said there was no time for self-recriminations, but Gibbs thought that perhaps that was all he was able to contribute to the team's effort right now. He had fucked up royally. Worse than when he'd left them to fend for themselves and run off to Mexico. At least then they had known he was still available to them if they needed him. Now, he had destroyed the trust of every person on his team. Except for perhaps Ducky. And he didn't blame them for not trusting him. This wasn't about betrayal. This was more fundamental than that. And it stemmed from his lack of trust in them.

He had shown them, all of them, how little he trusted them because he had, once again, gone off the grid and tried to handle things on his own. Only this time he hadn't proved that he was superman. On the contrary, he had proved just how human and fallible he really was.

Even if they beat Vance and got Tony and Tim back, Vance would have won, because he wasn't sure that his team, his family, could recover from the blow he had dealt to them.

Shaking off those negative thoughts, Gibbs gathered his things and headed home. More time in the basement was in order. Followed by time spent in the guest room. The stuff he had purchased just that morning needed to be hung and set in place. And then he had some phone calls to make.

**DMDMDMDMDM**

Tony spent all day Sunday, when he wasn't sleeping or visiting with Abby, Ducky, Palmer and Ziva, thinking about his conversation with Ducky. He had told Tim what they had discussed, but not how it made him feel or what he was thinking about now. The truth was, he wanted to forgive Gibbs. He wanted to trust him again. He wanted things to go back to the way they used to be. But he wasn't sure if he could.

Then again, he had forgiven Tim and things were better now than ever before. Ducky had said that relationships take hard work. And Tim had agreed with him when he'd told him later. In fact, Tim had said that his grandfather used to tell him that the three C's of a successful relationship were compromise, communication and constancy. Tony thought that maybe the same might apply to other relationships as well. Gibbs sucked at compromise, but Tony was okay with it, so they had muddled through on that one. The two others, though…

Communicating was not Tony's strong suit, and getting Gibbs to talk about anything usually required large quantities of alcohol and emotional blackmail. He was as closed off as any person Tony had ever met, and that was saying something considering the family he had grown up in.

As for constancy, Tony had thought that they were okay with that one. He had trusted Gibbs, but Gibbs hadn't trusted him. He hadn't trusted any of them. He'd been presented with a problem and when he couldn't find an answer, rather than asking them for help, he had given in to Vance's demands. It wasn't so much that Gibbs had broken Tony's trust, if Ducky were to be believed and Gibbs hadn't realized that he was shutting Tony out. It was more that he didn't trust Tony enough to ask for help. If Tony had done something so stupid, Gibbs would have head-slapped him into the next century.

"I've got it!" Tim shouted as he continued to type away at his laptop.

"Got what?" Tony asked.

"I thought I remembered seeing something hinky in one of the files I retrieved for Vance when his computer crashed a couple months ago," Tim explained. "So I've been back-tracking, trying to find that file. Unfortunately, he erased it from his hard drive and recreating the hard drive without tearing his machine apart is impossible. But…I traced the file's history and found out that it was sent to him via email. Which means, there's a copy of that file on the server."

"What is it?" Tony asked, getting a bit excited.

"It's a confirmation for a money transfer for 50 grand," Tim said. He paused a moment and typed a few more strokes to the keyboard. "Oh shit."

"What is it?" Tony asked.

"It's…." Tim couldn't say it.

"Tim."

Tim looked up at his partner and sighed. "The email carried the confirmation. It was from your father."

Tony's mouth opened and closed a few times before muttering, "Shit."

**DMDMDMDMDM**

Tony had asked Tim to give him some time alone to think about everything and to keep this news to himself for a few hours. Knowing Tim, that meant the younger man was down the hall, pacing and swearing, wondering what he could do to help Tony through this. The truth was, there wasn't anything he could do. Tony had realized a long time ago that his father was a bastard and would do what he could to make Tony's life miserable. What Tony needed to work out was how to handle this.

Tony picked up the phone and did something he hadn't thought he would be able to do just hours earlier.

**DMDMDMDMDM**

"He asked me to come," Gibbs said through gritted teeth as Tim McGee blocked his path to Tony's room. "If you don't believe me, McGee, just ask him!"

Tim scowled but nodded. "Fine but you wait out here until I do."

Gibbs sighed and took a drink of his coffee. He'd known this would be difficult, but this was ridiculous.

A few minutes later, a sheepish looking McGee came back out. "You can go in, but I'm not happy about this. If you do anything to upset him, I'll… well, I'll figure something out to hurt you."

Gibbs had to bite back the chuckle that wanted to escape. "Duly noted." Gibbs tossed his empty coffee cup in a can and made his way into Tony's hospital room. "You wanted to see me?"

"We have some things to discuss," Tony said.

"Yeah, we do," Gibbs said quietly. "I'm sorry."

Tony looked at Gibbs hard for a long time. "Apologizing is a sign of weakness."

Gibbs snorted. "As if there haven't been enough signs of that lately."

Tony paused for a moment before nodding. "I guess there have been. You aren't superman, you know."

"I think that's patently obvious," Gibbs said with self-mockery.

"I mean it," Tony said. "You should have come to us, to me, for help before doing something so idiotic."

"I know."

"You deserve the mother of all head-slaps for this one, Jethro," Tony said.

"I do."

"That being said, I forgive you," Tony sighed as he leaned back into his pillows. He was tired. The little naps didn't seem like they were ever enough, and longer periods of sleep were impossible.

"Tony, I…." Gibbs was at a loss for words.

"You never were very good at communication Boss," Tony grinned weakly. "But that's the first time I've ever seen you speechless."

"Why?" Gibbs asked, ignoring the teasing.

"Because we're family and that's what families do," Tony said. "They forgive each other and try to work things out. You worked things out with your dad, didn't you?"

"Yeah, Tony, I did," Gibbs said with a small smile.

"Yeah, well, I'm working things out with mine," Tony said.

"What?" Gibbs frowned. "Your father is a bastard who doesn't deserve your forgiveness!"

"Not him, idiot. You," Tony said timidly.

"Oh," Gibbs said, speechless once again.

They were silent for a time, but Tony's lungs broke that silence as a particularly bad coughing fit struck. After helping Tony sit up and thumping his back a few times to help loosen the mucus blocking his airways, Gibbs realized how close he had come to losing Tony for good. This was way too similar to his battle with the plague for Gibbs' comfort.

When the coughing had subsided, Gibbs helped Tony sit back and saw how exhausted he was. "I lied when I said I don't care."

"I know," Tony gasped out. "You just suck at communicating. Get Tim to tell you his grandfather's three C's. It'll help."

"I turned the guest room into a room for you," Gibbs said. "So you'll always know you have a home to come back to. Even put in a TV."

Tony was too overcome to respond to that. With Gibbs, actions always spoke louder than words.

"You should rest," Gibbs said as he reached for a cloth to wipe away the sweat from Tony's brow.

"Can't yet," Tony said. "Tim found a file. Wire transfer from my father to Vance."

"Shit, DiNozzo," Gibbs swore softly.

"Seems to be the consensus," Tony grinned tiredly. "Need you to make this go away. Without making it public. Can't face that. Media would eat it up. Faced that when my mom died."

Gibbs swallowed hard and nodded. "I'll make sure it goes away. We all will."

"Thanks," Tony said. He was asleep as soon as his drooping eyes finally closed. Gibbs sat on the edge of Tony's bed and stroked his fingers through Tony's hair. He had fucked up, but he would make this right for Tony, even if it was the last thing he did at NCIS. He took one last look at Tony and got up to leave.

Tim was waiting just outside the door, swiping at tears, when he emerged. "I take it you heard all that?"

"Yeah," Tim said.

"I owe you an apology as well," Gibbs said. "And gratitude."

"For what?" Tim asked.

"I think the apology is pretty obvious," Gibbs said. Tim nodded. "The thanks are for being there for Tony. Not just this week, but the last few months. He needed someone, and I was too caught up in my belief that I could fix everything on my own to realize that. But he had you, and I'm grateful."

"Apology accepted," Tim said. "And you're welcome. I was glad to be there for Tony. He means a lot to me."

Gibbs gave him a long look. "I know. A relationship like yours and Tony's is rare; don't let anyone try to convince you to let that go because it doesn't fit with their rules or expectations."

Tim raised his brows in surprise. Was Gibbs saying what he thought he was saying? "Even you?"

"Even me," Gibbs agreed. "You did good standing up to me, Tim, protecting your partner's six. And you and Tony both did a great job with the Weston case."

"You'll have to let Tony know next time you come to visit," Tim said with a small smile.

Gibbs smiled, recognizing the invitation for what it was. "I'll do that."


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

Monday morning, Brad signed the papers releasing Tony, but not before giving both Tony and Tim strict instructions for Tony's home care and making Tony promise to come to weekly follow-up visits. Tim smiled when Tony groaned. He smiled more when Tony argued about being forced to ride in a wheelchair. He didn't fight too hard, Tim noticed, and figured that Tony was more tired than he wanted to let on.

The ride back to Silver Springs was quiet and Tim wondered what Tony was thinking about. They hadn't discussed much more about their relationship since Saturday, though they had kissed several times. Tim was surprised to realize how much and how deeply he felt for Tony in such a short time. He'd never felt this deeply for Abby, and he had thought he was in love with her.

Tim pulled up at the pharmacy near his house to pick up the prescriptions that Brad had called din for Tony. He glanced over to see if there was anything else Tony needed, but found the older man asleep. Tim was careful to be quiet when he climbed from the car and shut the door so as not to wake Tony. He was quick getting the medications, and picking out a few things that he thought would put a smile on Tony's face later. Then he returned to the car and noticed that Tony was still sleeping.

The rest of the drive was short and Tim was soon pulling into his driveway beside Tony's car. He briefly wondered what Tony had done with it while he was at sea, but the thought swiftly disappeared as he contemplated how he was going to get Tony up the stairs and into the house. He had never really noticed that there were so many stairs to his front door, but as he sat there counting them, he grimaced. Tony had a difficult time just making it from his bed to the bathroom at the hospital. And after the exterior stairs, there were the stairs up to the bedroom in the house.

Well, they would just take them one at a time.

Tim woke Tony and the older man smiled sleepily at him. "We home?"

"We are," Tim confirmed. "You ready to scale Mount Everest?"

"Of course," Tony replied dryly. "Get the Sherpas and the gear. We're climbing to the summit."

In actuality, it took them almost ten minutes with frequent stops so that Tony could catch his breath to get up the seven steps and into the living room. Tim led Tony to the sofa. After that exertion, he knew neither of them was prepared to face the staircase to the second floor. Tim let him lay there while he gathered pillows and a blanket for Tony. It only took a few minutes to get him settled and then Tim went back to the car to retrieve his and Tony's bags. By the time he returned, Tony was fast asleep.

Tim took the bags up to his bedroom. He hadn't talked about sleeping arrangements with Tony, but he decided that he'd rather have Tony right there beside him at night, where he could hear if he was having difficulty breathing. Besides, he'd gotten used to sleeping in the same room with Tony, even if it hadn't been in the same bed. He didn't want to go back a step, just because they were still new to all of this.

Next, Tim went into the guest room and found some of the things he thought Tony might want downstairs when he woke up and got bored. Among them was the handheld game system and the cartridges that went with it as well as his laptop. Tim carried those items down and set them on the coffee table near Tony. Then he pulled out Tony's DVD collection and began flicking through the selections. He might as well watch something. He had more time on his hands than he had ever had in his life.

**DMDMDMDMDM**

At the office, Gibbs was prepared to face Vance head on. Abby and Ziva, along with Tim working from Tony's hospital room, had spent the weekend putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Now Gibbs had a file thick with information ready to present to the director. Gibbs had sworn to Tony that he wouldn't let the information about his father get out, but Vance didn't know that. And, honestly, they had enough on Vance without that to get him to fall in line if Gibbs played his cards right.

He should never have tried to handle things on his own. One would have thought that after the many times the team had forced him to let them in, that he would have learned his lesson by now. Vance was to blame for this mess, but Gibbs felt his own complicity profoundly. He had hurt Tony, the man he thought of like a son or younger brother. Family. Tony was his family every bit as much as Jackson was or Shannon and Kelly had been. He cared about all of his team, but Tony was the one who had been there the longest, who needed him the most, and he had hurt him because he was too arrogant to ask for help.

Tony may have forgiven him, but Gibbs had not yet forgiven himself.

Gibbs got the call from Vance's secretary and gathered up the file along with his resolve. He would make this right for Tony. He would make it right for all of them.

Vance's secretary waved him through as soon as he stepped through the outer office door and Gibbs gave her a nod of thanks. He paused at the inner door and took a deep breath before giving a perfunctory knock and opening the door.

"This had better be important Agent Gibbs," Vance said from his seat behind the oversized desk. "I have a meeting with the SecNav in an hour."

"I think you'll find that this is very important," Gibbs stated as he tossed the file unceremoniously onto the desk while taking a seat on the opposite side.

"What is this?" Vance asked even as he lifted the file and began to flip through the pages. Gibbs knew the moment Vance realized what the file contained because his face went completely blank, devoid of the usual sneer. "How did you get this information?"

"I have the best team in the agency," Gibbs said dryly. "Possibly the best in any federal agency. Did you really think they couldn't follow your tracks?"

"You can't use this," Vance said with bravado.

"Not in court," Gibbs shrugged. "But I'm sure that the SecNav would be interested to know that his director has been making decisions for the agency based upon personal grudges and for monetary remuneration. We may not be able to use this to prosecute you, but I can and will use it to get you booted out on your ass so fast that your head will spin."

"What do you want?" Vance said with narrowed eyes. "If you were going to do that, you would have done it already."

Gibbs nodded. "I want you gone. And I want DiNozzo's name kept out of this. He doesn't deserve the backlash this will bring about if it goes public. In return I'm willing to let you retire with your dignity in tact. But if you push me on this, I will go to the SecNav and my team will help Tony deal with the consequences if it gets out. What's your answer?"

Vance leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for several minutes. "Fine. I'll hand in my resignation to the SecNav this morning."

Gibbs rose from his seat and gave a cool smile to the other man. "Always good doin' business with you Leon."

"See you in hell Gibbs," Vance muttered.

"Been there," Gibbs replied. "Thanks to you. I have no plans to return anytime soon."

**DMDMDMDMDM**

"Tony, can we talk?" Tim asked later that evening. Tony had been dozing on and off all day, but he was awake now and quietly watching The Defiant Ones on Tim's television and eating the soup Tim had made for him earlier.

Tony looked at Tim and noticed the serious expression on his face. He grabbed the remote and paused the movie. "What's up?"

Tim looked nervous. "I know we haven't really talked about this, but when I was carrying our things in earlier, I… I put you things in my room. Not just what we brought from the hospital, but all your things. I thought that… but if you want me to move them back to the guest room, I'll understand."

Tony laughed. "Gees McGee! I thought I'd broken you of that timid stammering ramble."

Tim frowned, not sure he was happy about Tony making fun of him right at the moment. "Tony."

Tony stopped laughing but his smile never faltered as he reached out and cupped Tim's cheek. "Tim, I'm glad you moved my things into your room. It will make things much more convenient since I'm going to be spending so much time there. I had no intention of sleeping in another room now that we're… what we are."

Tim smiled. "And what are we?"

Tony frowned at that question. "I'm not sure. I'd say lovers, but we haven't had sex yet. And a boyfriend is just too high school…"

"How about partners?" Tim asked quietly staring down at his fingers which were fiddling with the fringe on Tony's blanket.

Tony lifted Tim's face to look into his eyes. "That sounds about right."

Tony leaned in to kiss Tim and this time when their lips met, there was more than just the longing of unfulfilled passion. This time, there was a promise of a future where that passion would not only be met, but embraced. Of course, this amount of passion was too much for a simple kiss and soon had turned into a full-blown make-out session.

The doorbell rang minutes later and Tony broke away from Tim with no small amount of regret. His voice was husky when he spoke. "Better answer that. This time of the evening, it's probably Girl Scouts plying cookies. And we wouldn't want to miss the opportunity for some Tagalongs or Thin Mints."

Tim looked dazed, his lips red and swollen from their kisses, but obeyed without thought. He even reached for his wallet, firmly believing that he was going to be facing a girl in green uniform carrying boxes of cookies. Instead he was faced with Ziva, Ducky, Abby and Gibbs.

"Oh, uh," Tim stammered out even as he put his wallet away. "Hey. What are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to celebrate," Abby said cheerfully even as she hugged Tim and pushed her way inside. Ziva followed with a sheepish smile. Gibbs raised his eyebrows in question and Tim nodded. The older man nodded back and followed the others into the living room. Ducky was the last to enter, an amused smile on his face.

"You might want to do something about those love bites, Timothy," Ducky whispered as he passed.

Tim's hand went to his throat and felt the tender spots where Tony's lips and teeth had just been. "Oh." Bemused, he followed the others inside and found them all congregating around Tony. Tim took his seat beside Tony on the sofa, Abby sitting on his other side. Ducky was in one armchair with Ziva occupying the other. Gibbs was leaned up against the fireplace looking more uncomfortable than usual, though he seemed pleased that they were all finally back together.

"So, what's this all about?" Tony asked, looking around the room.

"We did it," Abby announced. "He's as good as gone!"

"Vance?" Tim asked.

"Yeah," Gibbs said calmly. "Agreed to turn in his resignation to the SecNav this morning. Just before we left for the day, he announced it to the building. Said he would be gone in two weeks and that the SecNav is going to put a temporary director in until they can decide on his replacement."

"Is he…?" Tony looked to Gibbs.

"Part of the agreement was that this stays quiet," Gibbs said. "He doesn't want this getting out any more than you do. Less."

Tony nodded and Tim squeezed his hand. "So, what happens now?"

"That's up to you boys," Gibbs said. "I put Tony down for medical leave. You're on an unpaid leave of absence, McGee. I didn't want either of you to do something that you'll regret later. If you want to come back, the job is there for you."

"Of course they'll both be back!" Abby said. When she noticed that Tony and Tim were being very quiet, she turned to them. "Tell me you're coming back!"

"We need time to think about it," Tim said.

"And talk about our options," Tony said.

"This may have been a hasty decision, but I'm not sure it was the wrong one," Tim told his friends gently. "At least not for me."

"Gibbs!" Abby moaned. "Fix it!"

"Abby, my dear," Ducky said gently. "There is nothing to be fixed. Neither one has said that they won't be back; they have only asked for time to consider their decision. I believe that is the least we can grant them."

"I wouldn't be able to come back for a couple months anyway," Tony said. "Viral pneumonia takes a while to get over."

"And I've promised that I'll be here to look after Tony," Tim said. "At least for the first few weeks."

"We shall give you time," Ziva promised for all of them. "But whatever your decision, we will expect that you will not remove yourselves from our lives."

Tony smiled. "Of course not." He looked up at Gibbs even as he spoke to Ziva. "We're family. We may have been brought together by the job, but it isn't what has kept us together. Now, you said something about celebrating? Who's got the champagne?"

"I do," Abby piped up, holding up the bottle for Tony to see. "But none for you. No alcohol on your meds. I brought sparkling juice for you."

They all laughed as Tony pouted.


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN**

Despite the fact that both Tim and Tony were home together all week, neither one of them brought up the topic of NCIS or what they wanted when their respective leaves were up. In fact, they both studiously avoided any mention of NCIS or the future for six days while Tony napped or watched movies and Tim worked on his next novel or kept Tony company. It wasn't until after Abby's Sunday afternoon visit that they each realized that they couldn't avoid the conversation forever. Abby had asked no less than six times what they were going to do, and each time it became harder to change the topic. Abby could be tenacious when she chose to be.

Gibbs had been by twice that week and he had avoided the topic as painstakingly as Tim and Tony. Ducky had asked once in a roundabout way over the course of his two visits. Ziva hadn't asked with words, but Tony could see the question in her eyes. But Abby. Abby was relentless. She had been by five times that week and had asked every time she came. And this last time she had brought the subject up at every opportunity.

"We'll need to make a decision soon," Tim said with a sigh after locking the front door behind Abby. Tony was tiredly getting up from the sofa to make his way up to bed. It was still early, but Abby tended to wear him out. Tim was quickly by his side to make sure he didn't fall or miss a step on the stairs.

"We'll talk," Tony gasped out half way up the staircase. He was still having difficulty with the steps. He could get from the sofa to the bathroom or kitchen just fine, but one trip down and one trip up a day were about as much as he could handle right then. "When I'm in bed."

"And can breath again," Tim agreed. They made it up to the master bedroom and Tony practically fell into the comfortable pile of pillows. Tim smiled at him as he shifted to get comfortable. Then he went and gathered his things to change for bed. Soon he had joined Tony, who was resting his eyes after the taxing climb. "I don't think I want to go back."

Tony raised his eyebrows and stared at Tim. That wasn't what he had been expecting.

"At least not full-time fieldwork," Tim qualified. "I've been thinking about this for a while now. I make plenty of money from my books. But I'm not sure I'd be happy just sitting alone in my study every day."

"The team still needs you," Tony said. "Your expertise isn't easy to find."

"I know," Tim said. "I was thinking maybe of doing some sort of consulting work. Gibbs could call me in when the team needs my specialty. But we both know that I'm not the best investigator in the world. I don't have your instincts or Ziva's skill with weapons. I love that we help people and catch the bad guys. I know that what I contribute is valuable, but I don't know that it's necessary for me to be there everyday."

"Tim…."

Tim placed a finger over Tony's lips. "Hush. You're still catching your breath. Anyway. I think I want to have kids. Someday. And…."

Tony's brows rose. They were talking kids already?

"Don't look so panicky," Tim teased. "I said someday. It's just that I liked Cyber Crimes. I hated being away from the team, but I loved that work. I liked being out of the action and still feeling like I was doing something good. When I got word that I was going back on MRCT, I was both happy and disappointed. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah," Tony whispered.

"So yeah, I think I'm going to talk to Gibbs and the new director when he comes in," Tim said and laid his head on Tony's chest.

Tony was silent for a long time and Tim wondered if he had fallen asleep. He did that a lot these days. When he did finally speak, Tim almost jumped in surprise.

"I've been thinking about what else I could do with my life," Tony said quietly. "But this is what I'm good at. I chase the bad guys and put them away. I'm not sure I could do anything else."

Tim sat up and looked at Tony. "You could do anything you set your mind to, Tony. If there's one thing I've learned about you, it's that you can accomplish the seemingly impossible. A lot like Gibbs, really. You just use different methods to achieve the same results."

"Maybe," Tony said, quietly pleased that Tim had so much faith in him. "But even if I could do something else, I'm not sure that there's anything else I would be as happy doing. As much as I get frustrated with the job sometimes, I'm good at it and I'm happier at NCIS than I've ever been anywhere else in my life. I don't want to leave."

"You don't have to," Tim said. "And you don't have to justify your choice. I'm the one who's going to have to defend my decision to both Gibbs and Abby." He gave a small shiver of dread at the thought of facing them both.

"You aren't doing this because you're still angry at Gibbs are you?" Tony asked.

Tim shook his head. "No. I am still a little angry. But like I said, I've been thinking about this for a while now."

"Okay," Tony said with a smile. "Then we'll get you prepared to face the lions den. And you won't be alone when you do. I'll be there with you."

Tim sighed with relief. "Thanks Tony."

They were both quiet and Tim eventually got up and turned off the bedside lamp, settling down to sleep. He thought Tony was already asleep, but his partner surprised him once again.

"About those kids, you want, Tim?" Tony said with a smile in his voice. "I think we could probably discuss that. But let's leave it for after our first date, when I'm better and our careers are back on track. Okay?"

Tim grinned in the darkness and snuggled up to Tony's side. "Yeah. I can do that."

**DMDMDMDMDM**

Tim and Tony invited Gibbs over to the house for dinner a week later. The older man was surprised but pleased. Since everything had happened, he had felt the guilt of it weighing him down. He had visited, but this was the first time they had expressly invited him. He was surprised to see that Tim had cooked, but had to stifle a laugh when he realized that Tony was barking out instructions from his place on the sofa.

"He's not as bad as I let him think," Tony told Gibbs conspiratorially. "But he wanted to make lasagna and that's my specialty, so…"

"So you thought it would be a good excuse to torture him," Gibbs finished. "Well, it seems some things never change."

"And some things do," Tony said.

Gibbs gave him a long look. "Is that why you invited me over?"

"Part of it," Tony said. "The other reason was because we… Well, Tim's family came by last week to meet me and it seemed right that I should invite my family over to meet Tim."

Gibbs gave a small smile. "You do realize that I've met him before."

"As an agent and subordinate," Tony said. "But not as my…"

"As your what?" Gibbs asked with a teasing smile.

"As my partner," Tony said, returning Gibbs Teasing with a grin. "He's really nervous. Wants this to go well."

Gibbs laughed at that. "Sounds reasonable. After all, his new father-in-law carries a gun and has a temper from hell."

Tony laughed. Tim entered from the kitchen and told them that dinner was ready even as he went to the sofa to help Tony stand and followed closely behind the still weak man. Gibbs had noticed that Tony's coughing fits seemed to be only improving a little and asked about that.

"Brad says that it's going to take time," Tony said with a sigh as he took his seat across from Tim. They had put Gibbs at the head of the table as the patriarch of the family should be, whether it was his house or not.

"Tony's last appointment went well," Tim said. "Brad said that his lungs are improving, even if it's slower than Tony would like. And he's been cleared for some light activity."

"What he means is that I can walk to the dinner table instead of eating on the sofa every night," Tony said dryly.

"It's a start," Gibbs said.

"I know," Tony said quietly. "I just hate feeling weak all the time."

Tim reached across the table and took Tony's hand. "It's getting better, and if you follow Brad's advice it will continue to get better."

Tony nodded and Gibbs cleared his throat, not entirely comfortable with the emotional moment. "There was something else you two wanted to discuss tonight?"

Tony looked to Tim, who took a large gulp of his wine before saying, "Yes. Tony and I have talked about what we each want when we go off of leave."

"And?" Gibbs asked impatiently. He had been waiting for this answer for two weeks now.

"And Tony wants to come back but…" Tim looked uncomfortable and glanced at Tony.

"But Tim would like to cut back from active duty," Tony said. "Maybe work as a consultant when the team needs him. He wants to spend more time on his writing and… there some other, more personal reasons."

Gibbs sat back in his chair and considered that. "The team would miss your input, even if you are coming in for consultations. I'm not sure you've ever realized how valuable your input is to our investigations."

Tim's eyebrows rose. Gibbs never complimented them like this. "Well, I know I help. I know there are things you couldn't do without my skills or knowledge. But I'm not the best asset you have in the field. My instincts don't match what you and Ziva and Tony have when facing down a murderer. I don't think I'm a liability or anything like that, but I'm not sure that I really contribute to that part of our job. At least not any better than any other person in the agency."

Gibbs chuckled. He had to admit the truth of that. Tim had improved beyond even his own expectations in his physical stamina and his ability to handle a weapon, but he was still behind the curve. He would trust Tim with his life, but he would rather have Ziva or Tony on his six in a life or death situation. "I'll talk to the director and see what he thinks of hiring a consultant."

"I'm planning on coming back once Brad clears Tony to be on his own," Tim said. "At least until Tony comes back to work. I don't want to leave the team shorthanded any more than is necessary."

Gibbs nodded. "Thanks, Tim. And let me say, I'm impressed. You know where your strengths lie and are trying to use them to benefit both yourself and your team."

Tim actually blushed and Tony smiled at his still bashful partner.

"And Tony, there was something I wanted to tell you as well," Gibbs said, his attention turning to his Senior Field Agent. "The work you did on the Weston case was really good. I should have told you at the time, but…"

"That's behind us," Tony said.

"Anyway," Gibbs said, clearing his throat. "Good job DiNozzo."

Tony grinned. "Thanks, Boss."

"So, where's my namesake?" Gibbs asked. He hadn't seen Jethro since his arrival.

"He's in the basement," Tony said, giving Tim a glare. "He was banished there by McMeanie."

"Hey!" Tim said with indignation. "He was trying to jump on the counter to eat our dinner! He knows he isn't supposed to do that! I'll let him out once we're done."

Gibbs chuckled. If these two ever decided to raise kids together, it would be… Wait. Was that the 'more personal reasons' Tony had talked about? Were they that serious already? He ignored the playful bickering and watched his two agents interact. He'd known that something was developing between them. They hadn't tried to hide it. And even if he hadn't seen for himself, Abby and Ziva's gossiping would have clued him in. But from everything that he had gathered, this was a relatively new development.

"So, how long have you two been together?" Gibbs asked once the bickering had subsided.

The two exchanged a smile, but it was Tim who answered. "Just since Tony got back. But the foundation was laid while he was at sea."

"You should really respect technology a little more, Gibbs," Tony said lightly. "It allowed Tim and me to talk almost every night while I was gone. Let us get to know each other without the pressures of the job or trying to prove ourselves."

Tin snorted. "It's easier to open up when there's hundreds of miles and a false sense of anonymity between two people as well."

"This is true," Tony acknowledged. There were many things he never would have told Tim if he hadn't had a computer screen to hide behind, or the distance to filter the emotions out of his story. "Tim probably knows more about me now than anyone, including you."

Gibbs raised his brows in surprise. Tony didn't just open up to people. He held his mask firmly in place at all times. Even now, with the two people who knew him best, he still played the role of the carefree playboy.

"Have you talked to your father since…?" Gibbs asked carefully. He watched as Tony's face closed off and Tim's eyes lit with fury.

"I called him," Tony said.

"The bastard didn't even apologize," Tim said. "He didn't ask if Tony was going to be okay when he started coughing right in the middle of the conversation!"

"It's over Tim," Tony said calmly as he took his partner's hand. "Besides, I told him if he ever tried anything like that again, I was going to take the evidence we had gathered to the _New York Times_. His reputation would be ruined, and that's all he really has now: his money and his reputation."

Gibbs nodded. "I made my own call. He won't try anything like this again."

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes while they finished their dinner. It was broken when Tim began to clear the table and Gibbs offered to help. They worked together while Tony made his way back to the sofa as slowly and carefully as he had left it. Once there, he laid back against the pile of pillows and closed his eyes. Both the dinner and the discussion had worn him out. He was asleep by the time Tim and Gibbs returned to the living room with coffee in hand.

Tim smiled and motioned for Gibbs to follow him to his study instead. Gibbs took a look around the room and nodded in approval. It was just the right space for McGee to work in: a mix of the past and future with both the old typewriter and the complex display of technology along one wall. He took the seat by the computers and allowed Tim to take the seat behind the desk.

"How's he really doing?" Gibbs finally asked.

Tim gave a small smile. "He has good days and bad days. He still tires easily. And he gets bored, but he's too tired to actually do anything, so he gets frustrated. But on the whole he's good. I think I was more surprised and upset by his talk with his father than he was."

"Did he tell him about you?" Gibbs wondered.

Tim smiled. "No. Told me after that he wasn't ashamed, just that it wasn't any of his father's business. The only family who really matters already knows."

Gibbs nodded in acknowledgement. "I suppose this is the part where I'm supposed to vet you to make sure you're good enough for my kid."

Tim shifted nervously. "Uhmm… if that's what you need to do."

Gibbs nodded. "You already take good care of him. I know you've got his six. And I'm not going to threaten you."

"The threat goes without saying," Tim muttered.

Gibbs laughed at that. "I suppose it does. Tim, take care of him like you have been and we won't have any problems." Tim nodded. "How did your folks take the news?"

Tim laughed wryly. "My mother wondered why I hadn't brought a man home before. Seems she always thought I was going to bat for the other team. My dad took the news stoically. Sarah loves Tony, so she was fine. And when they came to dinner, Mom doted on Tony, fussing over him like he was one of her own and he lapped up the attention. Dad and Tony got talking about football and have talked on the phone twice since their visit. I don't know what all they talk about, but Tony's usually smiling when he hangs up. I think Tony's talked to my family more than I have recently."

Gibbs chuckled. "Tony can be charming when he chooses to be."

"Yeah," Tim agreed. "But it wasn't his charm that got me."

"Never thought it was," Gibbs agreed. He nodded at something on the shelf behind Tim and asked, "That your new book?"

And so the conversation moved on to more mundane topics, but Tim considered the night a success, and told Tony so, later that night in bed.

**DMDMDMDMDM**

Six weeks after being admitted to the hospital, Brad cleared Tony for desk duty. It was another four weeks before he was physically back in shape enough to go back to active duty. During that time, Tim stuck around to keep the team off cold case duty. But the day after Tony passed his field evaluation was Tim's last day as a full time agent.

"I can't believe you're leaving!" Abby cried as she hugged Tim tightly down in her lab. They had all gathered there for cake and coffee, and Abby had put up a banner to wish her friend farewell. "We all just got back together again!"

"I'm not really going anywhere," Tim said as he patted her back. "I'll still come in when you guys need me. And you can always stop by the house. Tony and Jethro and I would love to have you."

"Just don't waltz in or you might see more than you bargained for," Tony said with a leer.

Tim rolled his eyes at his partner. Despite the fact that Brad had cleared Tony for a more active physical relationship, they hadn't progressed beyond hand jobs or frottage as yet. Tony said he wanted to take things slow, but Tim knew that the other man was doing so for his sake. Not that Tim wasn't ready for more. In fact, he had decided that if Tony wouldn't take things to the next level, he'd just have to convince him that he really was ready. He had some very serious plans for later that night, plans involving more than just hands and mouths.

"You are all welcome to stop by whenever," Tim said, bringing the topic back to safer territory.

"Just knock first," Tony said. "Or call."

Ducky and Abby both laughed at Tony's predictability. Gibbs gave a small grin. Only Ziva had a blank look on her face.

"What's the matter Ziva?" Jimmy Palmer asked.

"Oh!" Ziva said with a start. "Nothing is wrong. I was just picturing what sort of things we might see if we walked in unannounced."

Abby grinned. "Pretty hot, huh?"

"Definitely."

"Please!" Jimmy protested. "I don't what to hear this. Or imagine anything!"

"But Tony and Tim are both very attractive men," Ziva said slyly. "The two of them in a sexual setting is undoubtedly very striking."

"Enough talk about our sex life," Tony said disgruntled. "And no picturing it, either." He glared at both Abby and Ziva.

This time Tim joined in the laughter. Tony, who had always been so open about his exploits with women, was very protective of their relationship. He rarely spoke about the personal details with anyone. In fact, Tim doubted even Gibbs knew when their first kiss had taken place.

"So, in other news," Tony piped up. "Tim's next book is being released next Thursday. We're having a party to celebrate after work. Tim will be busy all day at a book signing, but after that, you're all invited over to the house to celebrate, and Tim promised me that everyone could have their own copy of the latest LJ Tibbs adventure."

There were congratulations all around and Tony watched his partner accept the praise with a blushing acknowledgment. Tim was entirely too humble, in Tony's opinion. But since Tony was probably way too cocky, they balanced each other well.

"So is Agent McGregor going to leave the team in the next book?" Abby asked slyly. "Will he hook up with Tommy?"

"No," Tim said. "At least not in this book. I finished it long before Tony and I got together. Besides, the books are fiction. There's no reason to make the characters do exactly what we do in real life."

"If you are worried about public reaction, I could show you some of the fan fiction sites," Tony said. "They are _**always**_hooking Tommy and McGregor up."

"Or Tommy and Tibbs," Abby put in. "Or Amy and Tibbs. Or Amy and Tommy."

"My favorite is when they do the unexpected," Ziva said. "Like Pimmy with Lisa. Or Pimmy with Tibbs. Or some of the threesomes."

"Do all of you read the fan fiction?" Tim asked with some disbelief.

Four of them shrugged guiltily while Gibbs and Ducky looked blank. "What is fan fiction?"

Tim shook his head. "Fans of a book, movie or television show go online and write stories about their favorite characters. Some are pretty interesting, but most are pretty weird. There are hundreds of sites and hundreds of thousands of people out there doing it. I know one site that hosts stories for over four hundred fandoms."

"Some of the stories are quite explicit," Abby said. "Anyway, in the LJ Tibbs fandom Tommy and McGregor are the second most popular pairing, right after Tommy and Tibbs."

Gibbs made a weird face and the others all realized that he was not pleased with the news that not only was Tim writing about him, but thousands of strangers were also doing the same.

"Those who write on fan fiction sites are only a small percentage of the people who actually read the books," Tim said. "And I'm not going to cater to them."

"But _**you**_ read what they write, don't you?" Tony teased.

Tim flushed and tried to hold back a smile. "Well, yeah. They can write things I could never get away with!"

**A/N:** Okay, so there is just the epilogue left. I know some folks were expecting more punishment for Vance or some sort of retribution for Senior, but honestly I thought the story was more about the relationships between Gibbs, Tony and Tim and I think the story is just about complete.


	11. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

_Five years later_

Tony looked out over their friends and family gathered in the living room of their new house and smiled. Everyone had come out to welcome the newest member of the DiNozzo-McGee family. About a year after Tony went back to work, they finally had that talk about kids and Tony agreed to look into surrogacy. A year later, they had brought home Caitlin Marie DiNozzo-McGee. Biologically Tim's, she had quickly become the center of both men's lives. Then, when Caitlin had turned two, Tony had brought the subject up again.

A second child required more thought than the first. Their townhouse didn't really have the space they would need for another baby, so they had begun house hunting. Tony had fallen in love with the small suburban town, so they limited their search to Silver Springs, and finally found a house with everything they both could ever want. There was a fenced in yard for Jethro, with a swing set. There was a finished basement with a family room where they could all go to watch movies or play with the kids. Down there, there was also a room for Tony's exercise equipment. Since getting pneumonia, he had a harder time with his breathing when he ran in cold weather, so they had set up a gym for him, complete with a treadmill. There was a study for Tim, a huge kitchen, and four bedrooms. All situated on a quiet cul-de-sac near the same park they had always gone to before.

The surrogate had already been five months pregnant—with Tony's child this time—when they found the house. It had taken some time and effort to get everything moved and the nursery set up in the few months leading up to the birth, but in the end, it had been worth all the hard work. Now, there was room for all of their friends and family to gather together in their new living room, and they were all there: Katie, Tim's parent, Sarah, Gibbs, Abby, Ziva, Ducky and Palmer.

He thought back to five years ago, when he'd been banished to the USS Seahawk. He had felt so lost and alone then, like he had no one left who cared if he lived or died. But he wasn't lost or alone anymore. He'd found Tim, and soon there after, he had finally found his home.

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to Michael Leroy DiNozzo-McGee," Tony said as he held their son up for everyone to see. He turned to his son and said, "Mikey, this is your family. Welcome home, little man."

**The End**

**A/N: ** Well, that's all folks. Just for the record, I'm currently working on a new Gibbs/Tony fic, so keep an eye out in the weeks to come. I also wanted to take the opportunity to thank all of you who have faithfully reviewed. It really does help keep the muse working diligently. I hope you enjoyed the story! Jules


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